


M I S S I N G

by ManiacShampoo



Series: The 013 Series [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Cute, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Harringrove, Jancy, Jopper, LGBT, M/M, Missing, Original Character - Freeform, Scary, byler, elmax - Freeform, kinda takes place after season 3 tho, not season 4 compliant, season 3 sucked so here’s this, steve harrington is sad, stranger things, thriller lmao?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 11:09:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20470037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ManiacShampoo/pseuds/ManiacShampoo
Summary: everything that was moving fast, was moving so slow. They did it...The monster was dying. The world was saved. Everyone was safe. But to mike and nancy, the world was ending. And too billy who let out a shuddering sob, the world had only just begun.ORwhat if billy hadnt shown up to their date? what if Karen was the one who got flayed?an AU created by me and my bestfriend, mary.





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> this idea was created by me and my best friend. 
> 
> we are not claiming to own any of the characters or plot lines in stranger things, copyright belongs to the duffer brothers. we were deeply unhappy with the way season three ended. billy hargrove deserved a chance to be a better person. to prove himself and to be a good brother to max. so we wrote this instead. all ideas are ours, so if anything doesnt match up to the show id like to apologize. as of right now this isnt season four compliant because season four hasnt even been announced yet. thank you to mary, who kept me smiling and happy throughout the making of the first and second chapters. :) everything you read was created in between passing ideas around our stupid little heads with the disclaimers done, have fun reading

chapter one: the sauna, the cabin, the mall. 

word count: 1,900 

:-

Billy Hargrove was a lot of things, but a cheat and a bad man, he tried his hardest not to be. Dad took a lot of things from him, but he could keep his integrity. That's why he didn’t meet karen like he was supposed to. That’s why he stayed, pressed firmly against his life guard tower.

He could feel eyes on him. He could tell she was there, lounging in one of those lawn chairs, romance novel in hand and blonde curls that looked so much like moms it made him ill. It was wrong, flirting with her. He was a shitty person sometimes, but he wasn’t stupid. Dad may say it, but he liked to think he was smart enough to realize when enough is enough.

He pressed his thumb into his knee. Also, don’t tell anyone he thought this, but max and her friends sucked at hiding. Very brightly dressed gaggle of 14 year olds in the bushes watching him kind of terrified him. But he played it off. They were up to something and he felt like he had to stop it. Wasn’t sure how though.

But when he saw Max’s boyfriend slip into the women’s room with everyone following shortly behind him he let out a huff and got up off his post. He wasn’t stupid, and he liked to think his sister wasn’t either, but a sense of protectiveness rushed over him and he couldn’t help but watch as the pool closed, and everyone slowly left. 

It was just him, mrs wheeler, and the stupid kids in the women’s changing room. He had to do something. He had to get max out of whatever stupid adventure she was up too, and he had to get mrs wheelers eery eyes off him, it made him sick to his stomach. 

He was tired, Heather hadn’t been here to take her post today so he doubled his shift, and about half way through the kids crept into the bushes. Everything put him on edge. If you asked him, he wouldn’t have done it. If he knew following mrs wheeler would get him caught up in some sort of life or death situations he probably would have decided hell no, and went home to get shoved to the ground and spat on. 

Of course, he didn’t know that, as he watched his sister and her friends shove mrs wheeler into the sauna. He didn’t know what to do when she started crying, or when zombie kid started flipping out, he didn’t know what to do when mike got up to the sauna window and stuttered out a “m-mom?” But when a first broke out of the Sauna window and a very very n o t mrs wheeler walked out he jumped into action, the kids seemed in a daze, except for the other girl, who kinda reminded him of a superhero.

He didn’t know how she was suspending karen into midair, but it gave him a chance to block max from whatever the hell he was looking at. The black veins under her eyes terrified him, and he thought that one girl was gonna die. So naturally he felt himself pushing her out of the way and punching mrs wheeler. Chaos ensued, and a slingshot was in the mix and mrs wheeler was getting shoved into the wall over and over and that one girl was covered in blood.

Getting involved was probably pretty stupid, but it was too late, and mrs wheeler was running off, and max was scared out of her mind and billy was s o confused. Filling him in as he stuffed way too many kids into his car was about was strange as you can expect. 

From the sauna to the mall, everything was very very fast. The hospital, the disgusting terrifying monster, shredding its way through everything in its path. It almost killed the other wheeler kid, and billy couldn’t help but feel extremely grateful max was safe, not that he’d admit it too anyone though. 

Jonathan didn’t talk much, no one did. The cabin scared everyone. A look into what mrs wheeler was feeling and thinking was not pleasant for anyone involved. That thing smashing through the room wasn’t either. He stood closer to max than ever, and everyone was panicking at this grabbing el. As the adults in the group, (although billy didn’t think anyone here was very much at all an adult) they tried to do everything they could, but it ended in him and Jonathan very rushingly, Chopping it off. It took him a bit to get his breathing normal after that.

but as time went on, billy was stuffed in between tiny wheeler and zombie boy he couldn’t help but think about what the hell happened in the span of a few hours. The crackling of a radio made him jump, everything did, he got ready to get the shit beaten out of one of them, but instead the kids made a jump for the walkie talkie, screaming someone’s name. Turns out curly haired hat kid (really, billy needed to get these kids’ names down.) was at the mall, which was apparently overrun with Russians and steve harrington was high off some crazy Russian drug. But the rest was cut off and older byers turned the car wildly towards the mall. Billy was so confused, Russians? This night just kept getting weirder and weirder. 

The mall was almost faster than the sauna and the hospital. Everything was flashing around billy’s eyes. That thing was inside of el, crawling around insider her skin and it made him ache, everything did. He could tell everyone was panicking, nobody here was older than 18, but here was older byers, cutting open superhero’s leg. Steve’s Russian drugs seemed to have worn off. But the bruises he was sporting showed that there was definitely some sort of torture involved, but billy didn’t say anything. 

Ice cream girl kept gawking at him. Like she knew something he didn’t. The way she stared at him made it look like he was exposing his deepest secrets on a golden platter to her. He didn’t like it one bit, that awful creature was inside the poor kid and everyone was screaming and the wall behind them was shattering so loud max curled up into him. He wrapped an arm protectively around her as the creature squealed and ran off, only to be stomped on by none other than the chief of police. 

Billy held max closer, everything was going in wild interlocking paths and it was giving him migraines. The idea of Russians living under Hawkins mall made him laugh out loud, but he tried not too. He heard hat kid and some other kid who he didn’t really know but she mouthed off anyone who blinked at her wrong and billy decided she was a badass and he liked her. 

He overheard hat kid, Dustin his name was dustin, talking about communication with hopper. They needed a ride. Almost like this was a reoccurrence, he looked at steve expectantly. Steve groaned and lifted his head off ice cream girls shoulder. Billy gawked, they were gonna make him drive? He was drugged and beaten and they were gonna make him drive?

He stepped up, “hopper sir,” he stuttered out. “Let me drive, harrington over there looks like he’s gonna pass out any minute.” Dustin looked at him, no sorry, glared at him. And max raised an eyebrow. He faintly saw robin nudge steve on the shoulder, as he put his head in his hands. 

That's how billy Hargrove ended up in someone else’s very obnoxious yellow car, that steve seemed very happy to be in despite his loopy state, with the icecream girl and two children shouting directions at him. 

“This isn’t a road dipshit!” He called out as he came in contact with a fence, “hEY KID THIS ISN’T A. ROAD.” He tried again but dustin kept screaming to go left. when they finally pulled the car up to the hill, they found a crazy radio contraption. 

Immediately the two kids rushed out of the car, climbing over robin and steve to get to it, grabbing a walkie talkie, Dustin started screaming into, “alright, scoops troops in, hot head drive us, let us know when you need directions, over.” Hot head? Oh my god code names. He stifled a laugh as he turned around to see steve staring at the back of his head. “How high are you, harrington?” Steve laughed, and laid his head on robins shoulder again. “This is better,” robin said flatly, “we were worse a few minutes ago, it’ll wear off.” 

Nobody said anything until intense shouting on the other end of the radio. Dustin and the other kid, erica oh my god billy get these names down, were screaming, asking what was wrong.

“Griswold family come in! Griswold family are you okay? Over?” The screaming died down “Karen’s here! She’s at the mall! We can’t leave! OVER !” the screaming alerted billy. He let out a shaky breath, max was there. “Alright kid, stay here and give chief directions.” He turned around to turn the car back on. “Where are you going?” Dustin screamed. 

“My sisters there dipshit! I’m gonna go save their lives. Go, help. Chief.” The car sped off and left dustin and erica speechless. Dustin closed his eyes in prayers for this night to go safely. Of course, that’s not always how it goes is it? 

Billy speeding down the highway with a very high steve harrington scared the crap out of him. Because everything was happening so fast. Fast seemed to be a common trait amongst the group. 

Rushing into the mall with Steve harrington limping against him drew a lot of attention to him, as mrs wheeler stood over els body, the two seemed to be talking, whispering, he passed steve off to robin, who struggled against his weight, slowly making his steps towards his sister. 

The radios could be faintly heard in the background, the sound of singing adding to the chaos, Dustin's voice crackling through along with someone else's that no one recognized, as everyone showed a respective nod. “Suzie.” They had all said at the same time. 

Leaving billy utterly confused. He took another step towards max, avoiding the fireworks thrown in every direction. Fast, he breathed, fast was all the fireworks flying through the sky popping and crackling against the mountain of flesh and bones.

El was crying and so was mrs wheeler. Wheeler kids were distraught. Max wrapped her arms around billy's waist, as mrs wheeler got up. Protectively over els body. Max’s tears stained billy's shirt, and steve was passed out against robin. And there was shouting on the radio. 

And the fireworks stopped crackling. No one knew what was happening before it was too late. Before mrs wheeler fell backwards, blood red mixing with dark black veins, spilling out against the tile floor of the mall like pen ink, billy pulled max protectively closer to him, as mike and nancy fell to the floor. 

And suddenly, everything that was moving fast, was moving so slow. The did it. The monster was dying. The world was saved. Everyone was safe. But to mike and nancy, the world was ending. And too billy who let out a shuddering sob, the world had only just begun. 

:-


	2. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter 2: the video store. 
> 
> word count: 1,700 
> 
> THREE MONTHS LATER...

Three months after the mall incident, billy found himself in between steve and robin, giving the video store clerk a very fake smile. He wasn’t expecting the top 5 movie question he had been asked.

Clearly Steve didn’t either because his face fell and the two looked terrified at robin as she listed them off perfectly. Steve just blinked a few times, “uhh,” he looked at billy for help who just raised his arms in defense. “ I like Star Wars?” 

The clerk blinked very slowly at that asking which one. Steve looked lost all over again, before giving him that causal Steve harrington smile that made Billy’s heart skip a beat, which kind of terrified him. “The one with the teddy bears!” Steve made some sort of Ewok noise and billy blinked at him, before smiling and elbowing the shorter boy, “yeah Harrington’s right! That one!” They smiled at each other before sending matching dorky smiles at the clerk.

He turned to robin, “you’re hired, but not them.” Robin frowned. And steve gave him puppy dog eyes that made Billy’s heart do that skipping thing again. Robin cleared her throat and shoved them off. They went to go look at the movies. 

  
Robin was clearly trying to have some sort of bribe with the kid, judging by the way he kept glancing at the two of them, who were messing around with the movies. 

Robin called them back over, and steve tripped over the cardboard cut out, stumbling with it as billy howled with laughter, tripping over his own feet as Steve threw the cutout at him, pouting. Causing the two to laugh at each other all over again. 

Robin rubbed her temples before turning back to him, “they’re idiots, but they’re cute and they’ll bring in lots of girls,” she paused as Steve stood on his toes and stuck his tongue out at billy as he fixed the cut out, as billy let out another laugh. “Plus,” she turned back around, “they’re kind of a package deal.” 

:-

Billy Hargrove was really, really tired. He had been scheduled to work an hour earlier then he told his boss he could, which meant he couldn’t drop Max off at school. He rubbed his eyes as he splashed cold water on his face, letting out an exasperated huff of air.

The polo shirt he wore for his uniform was itchy and he knew he was complaining about everything but going to work at six am made his entire day messed up. The shift was from 6 to 12, where steve would clock in for him and he could go. 

Besides, he had robin with him so he knows he shouldn’t be complaining but robin constantly teased him about things he didn’t think she was right about, because no robin, he didn’t look at steve with heart eyes. 

He was admiring how steve looked yes, but it wasn’t gay. He wasn’t gay, robin. He slid into his car, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. When he pulled up to the video store and clocked in, he realized today was very very different.   
  
Robin was smirking at him, and she seemed to have this secret plan that he didn’t really understand but she just kept giggling and saying it wasn’t her idea. Billy groaned, shoving his hands into his unruly curly hair. “You scare me, sometimes robin.” He admitted. 

She laughed at him, hopping up to sit on the countertop. He sighed, fiddling with his name tag, and pushing a piece of hair behind his ear. Robin was watching him and they were the only two in the whole store. He thought he might die, honestly. “So, how long have you had a crush on steve?” He actually choked on air. 

He coughed a couple times, stumbling over his own feet, tripping over a box of returned movies he didn’t put back on the shelf. He steadied himself from falling by grabbing the cash register. His eyes widened as he realized what she had asked, “uhhhh,” he started. He was trying to find words, tell her that he wasn’t gay, he didn’t like steve harrington, but nothing worked. 

He stumbled around his words like he had with his feet a few minutes prior. The know it all smirk robin had been giving him since the mall made his knees weak and the hairs on his neck stand up. 

He bit his lip, trying to find the words, along with his balance but the question had thrown everything out of proportion and he was blushing thinking about being romantically involved with steve harrington. He blushed deeper when robin laughed. Once again she could read all of his emotions.   
  
He finally calmed down enough to put his head in his hands and robin rubbed his back, “ ‘s okay,” she started, looking around to make sure no one was in the store. “Everyone has crushes.” Billy seemed to sink deeper into the cash register deciding from now until steve harrington stopped existing this would be his home and he was just fine not seeing his perfect smile.

He raised his head as robin cleared her throat. He sighed, he just wanted to go to bed and not think about anything but she seemed intent on asking him thousands of questions about his feelings and by the end of his shift he was pouring his heart out to a girl he met three months ago. 

His head was spinning and his mouth wouldn’t stop moving as he told her about late nights with dad and steve's perfect smile and she listened, and told any customer who wanted their attention to get out and laughed when he laughed at something, or asked a question when she didn’t get it. It was good to talk to someone.

Opening up about mom left a bad aftertaste in his mouth, and his hands trembled as he thought about sand in between his toes and beach hair curls and moms laugh. And the promise she made that she’d come back after her errands.

He told robin about baseball, and growing out his hair, and max. And hurting steve a year ago. And by the time he’s stopped talking steve harrington was rushing in, still tying his shoes as he walked, tripping over nothing, screaming about being on time.

Robin squeezed his shoulder before rushing up to steve and pushing him over. “What are you doing, dingus?” steve just let out a very annoyed groan and almost stabbed himself with his name tag. 

“I had to pick up Will from school early, he got sick, no one told me why.” he jumped over the counter and leaned back on it, pushing the hair from his eyes, he smiled at billy, “hey Hargrove, you’re supposed to be home by now. I’m thirty minutes late.” Billy went to respond but was ultimately interrupted by a very mischievous robin Buckley.

Billy shuddered, he had no idea what she had plans for, but he decided he didn’t like it. Robin flashed her signature “I’m up too no good!” Smile before laying out the framework of her plan, “hey steve, billy, there's a huge box of late returned movies in the break room, can you lift it? I can’t.” 

Billy blinked at her, narrowing his eyes. He didn’t know where this was going, but it couldn’t be good.

Deciding he didn’t want to disappoint anyone though, he slipped into the breakroom, and before he could have said, “hey robin? There’s no box in here!” The door closed behind them. His face paled, and so did Steve’s, although steve seemed to be in a lot more distress.

“Robin?? Open the door please..” he slammed his fist on the door when he heard a muffled ‘no!’ On the other side of the door. Billy’s heart sped up. What was robin trying to do? Lock him up in a room with the one guy in town who made his heart all mushy? Not funny! 

He blushed and sat down at the break room table, watching as Steve paces around the small space. Billy blinked. Steve was very very annoyed with this outcome and it made Billy’s heart hurt. Maybe steve didn’t want to be stuck in here with billy and that’s why robin had stuffed him in the room together so that steve could reject billy and she could get the message that he wasn’t interested in his head.

He frowned as Steve’s pacing turned a lot more panicked and suddenly the rise and fall of his chest got faster and , woah woah. “Steve? Are you okay? Breathe!” Steve let out a shaky breath, as billy stood up to put a hand on his shoulder. 

The smaller boy practically fell into the others arms, letting out choked and shaky breathes. A jumble of words bunched together at the front of steves throat, all coming out at the same time as he stayed pressed firmly into Billy’s chest. 

The taller of the two ran his fingers through steves hair, a confused look on his face. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don't hate me.” Steve choked out, pulling away from Billy’s grip and harshly rubbing at his eyes to stop the tears still running down his cheeks. 

He felt like every wall was closing in on him and he could hear robin ringing up a customer across the wall, and he could see billy staring at him concerningly as another sob found its way out of his body. He had to do this, he had to tell him.

“B-billy,” he breathed out as billy grabbed his hand and sat him down in the cold plastic chair in the breakroom. With a hand on his knee, and two blue eyes full of concern staring at him intently, he took another deep breath. 

“I like you, I’m sorry, please don’t hate me.” Billy blinked. Everything was white noise and steve was rosy red, sobbing at the lack of response. Billy didn’t know how to tell him. 

Didn’t know how to explain everything to him. Instead he just grabbed steve and held him close. And with a kiss pressed firmly to the top of his head he hoped actions spoke louder than words. 

:-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The entire story is written out, but I’d love to hear your theories and opinions!


	3. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter 3: Mike wheeler isn’t okay, Will byers can’t figure out what to do, and billy hargrove is scarred for life
> 
> word count: 1,266

Mike, despite all attempts of hiding it, wasn’t okay. And that entirely in itself wasn’t okay either. It wasn’t okay when even will byers’ is babying him. To cut it short, nothing was okay, and it pissed mike off too no end. He huffed and scraped the front of converse against the school floor. He knew that everyone was babying him because no one wanted to hurt him, but sometimes the only person who should be giving him googly eyes is el, okay! He got angrier the longer he thought about it. They should be giving all their support to nancy, she’s taking it hard. Or holly, holly needs it. Not him, he’s fine. He slammed his locker door shut, causing the kids around him to jump and then give him sympathetic looks. He laid his head against his locker, the cold metal combating the red hit angry bubbling up in his stomach. “You like that locker more than me?” Mike turned around at the voice, smiling down at will byers, his best friend. He forced down every ounce of anger into a tiny ball and hide it away with all the other emotions he wasn’t supposed to share. “Hey byers,” he forced a smile on his face, walking down the hall with him. The watch on his wrist showed him that break is almost over, which means more classes. He sighed. Since mom died in the “gas leak” at Hawkins mall, no one knew what to do with him. Steve refused to let him go to school until he smiled (“no Wheeler, a real smile, c’mon!”) and when he had come back to school the teachers didn’t know if it was. Iacceptable to give him homework. That’s when the really babying started. The sad glances, the not having to do work, the “just turn it in tomorrow honey,” or will byers, giving him that perfect smile and asking him if he was okay, and although he knew the answer, no he wasn’t, he couldn’t bring himself to say it to Will. The bell rang for break to end and will smiled again, pulling him into a hug before blasting off to English. Mike smiled back, and turned around to go to Math. 

Will byers, however, was not stupid. He let out an angry huff, as he slid into his seat for lunch a few hours later, trying to tune out Dustin’s extremely loud talking in hopes of seeing mike wheeler give him a real smile for once. He knew mike wasn’t okay, he also knew that steve was worried, really worried about him. And that nancy wasn’t okay either. He stabbed through his styrofoam plate with his plastic fork. Not feeling hungry anymore, he passed it to lucas and Dustin who ate it happily. “What's got you feelin blue, byers?” Came a voice as she slid into the table next to lucas. Will shook his head. As much as he wanted to help mike, he needed to want it first. He let out a puff of air he didn’t realize he was holding in when Mike got out of the lunch line. Of course the sad look he got when mike threw away all his food was enough to get rid off all his relief. Dustin frowned, “will? Is there some monster outbreak coming again that you’re not gonna tell us about?” Wills breath got caught in his throat. He shook his head no, as mike sat down next to him. Will gave him the most genuine smile he could muster. And surprisingly, Mike gave a similar one back. Will laughed, as lucas choked on a French fry before pouting at everyone laughing at him. As he shared a happy look with his best friends across the table, and then met Mike’s eyes, he realized that with time It’d be okay again. 

As the final bell rang for school’s out, everyone booked it from the locker room, towards the front of the school where they searched for the signature blue car, smiling at billy and steve who looked to be laughing at something. Billy leaned over to say something to steve which caused the boy to turn strawberry red. And that’s when it happened. Billy leaned over to kiss him. Dustin let out a giant whoop, screaming about how he knew it! Max started screaming, and Will’s smile from lunch only seemed to grow. He let out a giant laugh, slipping into the backseat with everyone following shortly behind. “I knew that me and robin planned the break room but I never expected it to work!” Steve, who only seemed to be getting more flustered by the minute, was curling up into a ball in the front seat, as billy let out a loud laugh. Max groaned, “my brother! My brother is dating my babysitter!” Everyone is the car burst into laughter, even Mike. The silence was deadly afterwards. Steve let out a short sigh, looking around at everyone. “How was school?” He tried, watching as everyone blinked at him like he was the craziest thing they’ve ever seen. He frowned, before turning back around in his seat, and pouting at the now howling with laughter group of children. He looked at them in the driver’s mirror before sticking his tongue out as billy reached over to grab his hand. Steve blushed, squeezing his hand. As he heard gagging in the back seat. “Oh shut it Maxine I know you suck face with Sinclair back there.” Billy announces causing Max to scream at him. Steve laughed at the normality of their bickering compared to what they used to have. Steve sniffed, trying to ignore the icky feeling in his throat, pushing all the negative thoughts into the back of his head and focusing on billy's hand. 

When they got home, which is mrs. Byers house, they all ran in to see robin, Nancy, and joyce all arguing over a cookbook. Steve dropped Billy’s hand when they stepped inside, hoping the kids would get the message that he wasn’t ready to tell anyone else, especially nancy wheeler. But of course, the kids are children and as soon as they step foot in the door they’re dragging billy to the living room and announcing their plans for interrogating Steve’s new boyfriend. Steve blushed even harder than in the car, practically collapsing on the couch as robin started hollering, he could practically hear her smile and he curled up on mrs byers’ very comfortable couch. Joyce smiled at the group of teenagers, shushing them all with a smile. If you asked her, she would deny any part of this, but she could see the connection between the young boys almost immediately, as early as billy asking to drive for him all those months ago. She stared at nancy and mike a little too long before shaking the idea out of her head. She walked back into the kitchen leaving the chaos to ensue in the living room. The two sets of helpful hands in the kitchen now stood eerily silent in the living room, watching billy awkwardly sit on the couch. The giant group of middle schoolers stared at him harshly, a part of billy felt like if he answered the question wrong they might actually ban him from seeing steve. Steve moved to sit a little closer to him, as the kids all looked at eachother as if communicating with their eyes. "alright," dustin started staring at the two expectantly. billy bit his lip, "lets get started?" he asked.


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4: the interrogation, Billy babysits, El makes a happy discovery. 
> 
> Word count: 1,941

the interrogation, which was what el classified it as, terrified billy to no end, it seemed to scare him more than the boney ooey gooey monster that still haunts his eyelids whenever he feels the need to close them longer than a blink. He bit his lip as Dustin Henderson, who honestly never seemed that threatening to him, glared daggers at the older boy. He sent a worried look to steve, who seemed to be completely mortified by the situation. He next caught eyes with Nancy wheeler, who stood ominously quiet in the corner of the room. Her arms were crossed flat against an old worn out sweater that reminded the boy an awful lot of the one mrs wheeler wore when he came to pick up max from their house. 

He didn't mention it though, instead turning his attention to his savior (or so he thought,) robin Buckley, who sat on the arm of the couch next to him, still in her home video uniform except now a dash of flour sat on the collar. He bit his lip as he turned his attention to the tiniest wheeler who had a very disgusted look on his face.   
  
"Look Hargrove, I like ya, but what are your intentions with our babysitter?" He spat, raising an eyebrow at him. Billy gawked, blinking very slowly. Slowly enough that he saw the disgusting form of that awful monster, he saw Heather's large smile before she got off her shift to go home. He pushed all of those thoughts to the back of his mind, as Will started talking after him. Placing a soft hand against mike's shoulder, Will tried to put a menacing look on his baby face. "Billy, don't get us wrong, because you're really nice and helpful!" He started but was interrupted by Lucas, "Yeah, and you protect Max from your deadbeat dad," As if on cue, lucas got interrupted by Dustin, "And you haven't gotten angry at anyone since the sauna." 

The mention of the sauna made Billy feel the need to look over at Mike's intent glare, that was completely blown out of proportion by the tears in his eyes. Billy couldn't help but tap his shoulder as a way of telling him he noticed. Mike sent his a look, this one much less aggressive than the rest. Billy sent him a soft smile back. He looked over at steve, who was staring intently at the two, with a soft meaningful look in his eyes. Billy winked at him, turning the picture perfect stare into a blushing red mess. 

"Look kids," He relaxed further into the couch, trying to play it off as if he wasn't worried that if he did answer the wrong way the kids would actually refuse to let him see his boyfriend and he'd be back to base one with max. Both of those ideas left his entire body in a state of unease and anxiety. He ignored the twitching in his legs, and looked at the group of now very impatient children. He couldn't meet eyes with robin or Nancy. God, Nancy was staring at him with such a look of hope that it made him want to throw up all over his good jeans. 

He let out a shaky sigh as he ran his fingers through his unbrushed curls. "As much as I hate this gushy feeling stuff? I really like steve. A lot," he laughed as he heard robin snort at his comment. "And I know that you're all thinking about my rep with girls right? That's the problem here?" The kids didn't answer, but the way they refused to look him in the eyes gave him all the information he needed. He pressed his palms into his eyes to stop the shaking.

"I know it doesn't mean much to everyone but," he turned his head slightly to look at steve who was staring at him again. Steve gave him one of his encouraging harrington smiles, big and goofy and full of so much love that billy couldn't help but give him one back. The action seemed to give nancy all the information she needed as she finally spoke, clearing her throat even though everyone could still hear the way it teetered against tears, the words coming blocked from the back of her throat. 

"Billy? Listen if you even make him cry once, I'll shave your curls off and make a sweater out of them." The entire room went silent. Billy watched as Steve closed his eyes and bit his thumb to stop the giggles spilling their way from his mouth. Billy's breath caught in his throat, deciding right then and there that steve harrington was the prettiest person he'd ever seen. He cleared his throat turning back to the group before nodding. "You got yourself a deal Nancy wheeler." She smiled triumphantly, and billy couldn't help but smile back.

:-

"Absolutely Not." Was Billy Hargrove's first response to Steve's intense pacing and wild frantic question. The two were in Billy's room, after Steve had climbed in through the window, yelling about needing a favor. "Please!" Steve begged, grabbing both of Billy's hands and holding them in his own, staring up at him with those big puppy dog eyes. "Harrington, she'll kill me," he reasoned with him. 

There was a lot of things billy Hargrove would do for him. But babysitting the kid with superpowers crossed the line along with murdering the innocent and meeting his parents. Steve frowned at him as he shook his head violently. "She likes you billy! And you guys can bond, please jonathan will kill me if he finds out I didn't cover for him, I have to go my mom is gonna kill me-" he looked at the clock in Billy's room biting his lip, before pouting up at his boyfriend one last time. 

Billy closed his eyes. Steve didn't like to talk about his parents, they almost never came up in the conversation and billy practically forgot they existed until steve had crawled through the window blubbering about them. He knew that his parents are no joke. Intense business workers who put their job over anything else, including their 18 year old son, and that being home for even a day was a big deal for the smaller boy. He sighed, figuratively waving a white flag as Steve let out an almost crazed laugh of relief. Pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, he crawled back out the window like he was never there to begin with. Billy groaned, before grabbing his car keys. 

"Where's steve?" She had asked when he stepped through the door, small hands wrapped around a teddy bear, practically melting in a flannel four sizes too big for her, her hair laid in long waves against her face, framing it. Billy blinked, suddenly realizing that the girl he was babysitting was in fact a child, and didn't look anything like the superpowered badass act she pulled most of the time. He croaked out about Steve not being able to make it and she gave him a soft smile.

"That's okay. Do you want to watch tv with me?" He gave her a genuine smile, saved only for max and steve. He slipped onto the couch next to her. She stared at the tv with a childish wonder plastered across her face. The two stayed silent for a bit, before she turned from looking at the tv to looking at him. "What do you know about boyfriends?" He blinked a few times, before turning his body away from the tv and crossing his legs, matching her pose. "What do you want to know, kid?" She gave him a bright smile at the sudden interest in her question, without even realizing it he gave her another smile and Billy had to fight back a groan, the girl already had him wrapped around her finger. 

"Max says that boyfriends are overrated and only think about themselves." She admitted, before frowning. "Are you overrated?" Billy let out a laugh, "that sounds like something max would say. I don't think I'm overrated but you might want to ask Steve about that." She looked at him thoughtfully, almost studying him. "When did you start liking boys?" 

He licked his lips, trying not to show how surprised he was by her interest in his love life. The girl, despite her disgusting upbringing was still just that, a teenage girl. And boy do they love to gossip. "Back in California, before I moved to Hawkins." His eyes darted to the Coca Cola ad on the tv. "This boy, Harley? He bought me a strawberry cone, and then walked with me around the pier." He let out a laugh as el gave him a bigger smile than before. "Harley was nice and gave him attention when no one else did. Atleast, not negative attention," el looked confused at that. 

He had no idea what part of him decided it was okay pouring his heart out to her but he couldn't stop. "Dad doesn't like to tell me how much he loves me in nice ways, if that makes any sense." El blinked, before nodding in such an understanding matter that billy almost forgot that she grew up in a lab. "My papa liked to hurt me too." Billy gasped lightly. "I'm so sorry." She shook her hair, before, picking at the fur of her teddy bear. "Do you like both?" She frowned in thought before asking a second question, "can you like both?" Billy almost got whiplash as the conversation went back to love life and not icky dads. He gave her a goofy smile. 

"Yeah el, you can like both, wanna know a secret?" Her eyes sparkled as she nodded violently, brown curls bouncing in the process. "Steve likes both." She gave him a real toothy smile. Billy sat in thought for a second, "why are you asking, el?" He asked trying to sound more curious than demanding, trying to show a level of compassion that he wasn't sure he could convey in a smile and tone of voice. 

El didn't respond, before rushing to her room. Billy sat stunned on the couch for a second, getting ready to stand up and follow her before el came running back in, tilting her head a bit, he fell back against the couch. She sat closer to him, holding her teddy bear close to her chest, and placing to photo booth pictures against the coffee table. Billy sat stunned. 

In one picture she sat happily next to mike wheeler, who seemed to be laughing at something, the two were wearing bright party hats. The caption read in messy writing "first day of summer!" That hadn't confused him, it was the photo next to it. There in the photo sat el in a very fancy pair of gloves, next to none other than Maxine. The two were smiling so bright it almost blinded billy. The caption for this one was just 3 hearts and a date marking just a few days ago. Billy turned to look at her slightly scared face, before pulling her into a hug. 

If joyce byers got home from work ready to kill jonathan for not babysitting el, and found none other than billy Hargrove, and el, the two covered in piles of blankets, some soap opera on the television, she never said a word to anyone about it. Or the tears welling up in her eyes at the happy duo. No she didn't mention that either.


	5. Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 5: the sleepover, dustin has an inner monolog
> 
> Word count: 1293

Billy Hargrove was willing do a lot for his little sister. But, this? This was pushing it. He didn’t think much of it when Steve had dropped max off at home after a d&d game at his house. He did however think something of it, when Steve and max had given him almost identical sets of puppy dog eyes and begged him to join the party in a sleepover. Despite Mike and Lucas’ obvious distrust of him, he couldn’t say no to either of them. So here he sat, inside the bathtub, that was stuffed full of pillows and blankets, crushed in between el on one side and mike and will on the other. The night had started off like any slumber party, with movies and snacks and intense shouting matches over whether or not The goonies was better than Stand By Me. Billy, Steve, Dustin, and Lucas, all agreed on Stand By Me. The rest of the group settled for goonies with El and Will panicking before quickly announcing that they should just watch both. Everyone agreed. But of course, the movies and snacks had turned from childish fun, to now watching steve harrington and his little sister trying to straighten Dustin’s curls, with Lucas acting as supervision. El, still pressed firmly against him, cradling a fuzzy orange pillow to her chest, watched intently as Dustin screamed, “you’re burning me dipshit!” Mike and Will seemed lost in their own world, talking to each other excitedly as if everyone else in the room fell silent. Billy tried to not think about the fact that Will gave Mike the look he saw El give max when the two shared a milkshake a few weeks ago. Billy sighed, standing up and lightly pushing max away from the straightening iron. “You never straighten your hair, dumbass?” Billy asked, grabbing it from Steve, watching as said boy yelped and pressed his thumb to his mouth, letting out a whine. “Oh my god, I’m the only adult here!” Billy joked. Everyone went silent before bursting into laughter at the completely betrayed look on Steve’s face. Billy went back to straightening Dustin’s hair, as everyone collapsed into a soft flow of conversation, throwing words of information back and forth like a seven way tennis match, and billy tried to ignore the aching feeling of love in his chest when Steve would laugh. “Alright dumbass, your hairs’ straight.” He announced as everyone immediately went to look at him, screaming about how weird it looked, voices overlapping with young childish excitement. Lucas reached out to touch it and Dustin smacked his hand with a high pitched, “dude!” The chaos continued until steve was clapping his hands, and placing them firmly on his hips after getting their attention. “Can you guys please calm down? Yelling teenagers don’t get pizza.” The room went silent except for billys snickering. Steve smacked him on the back, “babe! You’re blowing my cover!” He whined, sticking out his bottom lip into a pout. The silence continued as they all made their way into the kitchen, watching steve grab the phone book to find the number for the pizza place. “Steve, babe, I love you, but honestly, just put the frozen one in the oven.” Billy insisted, grabbing it from its spot on the shelf. Steve let out an exasperated sigh, “billy, babe, I love you, but honestly I’m not feeding our kids frozen pizza.” Billy stuck his tongue out at his use of playful words, before putting it back and sitting on the counter despite the look steve sent him. “We were obviously gonna cook it first!” Steve smirked at him in response. Billy sputtered, “We were!” The group watched the playful bickering between them before el cleared her throat. “Mom and dad.” She said it so loud, so clear, so seriously. Steve, paused, from where he was pointing his finger at Billy’s chest. He turned bright red, gasping at everyone, as the children started agreeing. Billy let out a laugh with them, “I would consider us badass baby sitters, but if were your parents what does that leave robin?” The silence continued until Dustin, god the kid looked crazy with straight hair, smiled wide, showing off his teeth (or lack thereof) announcing, “cool lesbian aunt!” Steve and billy doubled over with laughter, resulting in everyone falling suit, phone book and frozen pizza miles away. 

dustin woke up with a shudder, jumping up from his spot in between Steve and Will as his settings finally set in. he blinked his eyes with a soft shudder, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, he crawled around the giant pile of teenagers. The TV was on, muted. He faintly saw a Levi's jeans ad, but he couldn't focus on it. He ran. A hand through his messy hair, now feeling spots thick with curls despite his attempts at keeping it straightened. He still shook with fear as his eyes danced around the room in search of the monsters that still crawled their way through the cracks in his walls, convincing his brain that trying to forget about murderous flower heads and Mike's mom baking them cookies. He knew it wasn't a healthy way of coping with loss. And he also knew that they had closed the gate once and for all, and that there wasn't any reason to be scared. But when he was laced within his own nightmares when he turned the light off, all logical senses are thrown out the window because steve was dying. Those nightmares were always the worst. The ones where Steve went to protect him, like always. The ones where he laid thick in crimson ink, sobbing on the floor. The ones where he watched that monster kill everyone he loved. If he closed his eyes he could still hear eleven screaming. And Billy crying. He bit his lip to hold back a scream. With a final huff of breath, he slipped into the backyard. The cold Hawkins air hit his skin like the blood of his best friends. He almost collapsed, wrapping his arms around himself. He sat cross legged next to the pool. The walls he put up after the mall were crumbling into ashes and the monsters were roaming around his head freely. He faintly wonders if this is how Mrs. Wheeler felt when she got flayed. She was a good woman. And a second mother to him. And despite the bickering, all of her children cared about her deeply. He ran a shaky hand across his face to rub at the tears. He sat in silence for a while, watching the moon reflect itself against Steve's pool. The rustling in the bushes almost sent him into a meltdown. He pressed his nails into his arm to steady him. The curly haired boy let out another shaky breath. The monsters in his head raved with delight at his inner turmoil. The rational part of his brain told him it was a wild animal. With that thought holding up the walls again he stood up to go back inside. If a wild skunk was in Steve's Bush it wasn't gonna get him! He brushed the dirt off his pajama bottoms and turned around when the shuffling in the bushes turned into footsteps. He stopped on the spot. "holy shit, " he mumbled. He turned his head around, seeing the faint outline of a person. "hel-" he started, attempting to book it back to the glass door leading back to his friends and family. He couldn't get a foot away before a whack to the head sent him back down into silence next to the monsters, and steve turning purple.


	6. Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter six: Steve recalls his shitty parents, eleven has a revelation, billy is confused. 
> 
> Word count: 1226

Steve tried to keep his cool. He really did. His whole life was spent with lies clouding his vision. Hopes and dreams crushed with phone calls and the sound of rolling suitcases against the tile floor. Steve harrington, if you could even call him a harrington, wanted to be better. Shoved into the babysitter position two years ago, with screaming kids and a nail filled baseball bat a sense of protective spread out from his heart and he felt himself wanting to sacrifice himself if it meant the kids smiled. Steve spent his whole adolescence matched with independence. Kissing his own skinned knee better, and lighting his own birthday candles. Pressed firmly against the kitchen cabinet, sobbing into the phone, "mom, please come home I'm turning sixteen," ached in his chest. That's why he did it. 

That's why when dustin Henderson from down the street and around the corner jumped into his car with a confidence that almost knocked the air out of him, Steve was so quick to agree. Seeing a second chance. Even if it meant beating the shit out of baby demogorgons and having a plate smashed over his head by his future boyfriend. Anything for that kid. So when he woke up with the sun shining on Billy's face, trying to ignore mike's foot on his back, and realized that no, he wasn't insane, Dustin's hat was outside by the pool. 

He sat up, mumbling to the confused noises all the kids made at the sudden movement to shut up. He stood up, walking to the glass door, and opening it. "Where's dustin?" He tried to sound cool, like he wasn't worried, but no, his brain went to the worst possible situation first. He slapped his hands against his face, scrubbing harshly at his skin. Everyone fell into overlapping ideas, walking around the room. An arm wrapped around his waist. He fell back into Billy's embrace, biting his lip. "maybe he ran home early, his mom worries!" Mike yelled from across the room, gaining the attention of everyone, thus ending the chaos. 

:-

They were getting desperate, they had checked every nook and cranny of Steve's house and all the way through the neighborhood asking if they'd seen him leave, but no one was giving any information that was useful. A lady had seen a Mormon walk past her house and led them to believe it was dustin for a good twenty minutes before Lucas lost his shit and left. Everyone followed followed back to Steve's house. With hope leaking out in every direction and leaving the part left with nothing but anxious faces and worried expressions, billy sighed, before pulling Steve into a hug, and getting an idea. 

"alright dip shits!" Billy yelled, unraveling himself from steve. "we're goin to the Henderson's!" Steve grabbed his keys from their spot on his counter, grabbing his coat and pulling it on over his pajamas. "stop." El announced. Everyone sat half in their jackets and coats, watching her intently. The paler color in Max's cheeks brightened as she grabbed El's hand, "she can find him!" she announced. The group of teenagers began Smiling wildly, whooping and shouting in success. Max spun El around in a circle, and Billy didn't miss the lovestruck look on either of their faces. 

He winked at el, who gave him a big childish grin. You never would have been able to tell in that moment that she was about to pull some crazy superhero shit. Her face fell as she asked Steve for a scarf and sat down, tuning the TV to a new channel. Everyone gathered around her and held her breath when Steve handed her his mother's old scarf. Black satin and soft at his fingers he could faintly remember the features of her face before she left. The curls of her hair and eyes bright and shiny just like his. He shook every thought out of his mind, and settled on finding dustin. 

He wanted to believe El would find him passed out on his bed, or eating breakfast with his mom. But with the wild chaos that issues in hawkins indiana, the odds are far from even. The TV laid forgotten in the background as everyone sat quietly around El. The blood dripped from her nose and she kept silent for a second until, "picture. " Billy sat extremely confused, "okay now that everyone is talking again what the hell is going on?" Mike let out a frustrated groan, "she's not just telekinetic dip crap she can find people.. With her mind." 

Billy blinked before looking around for any other confused faces. "everyone here knew?" The nods rolled in. Steve almost slipped as he ran off to his room to grab the framed photo of him and dustin before the snowball. He handed it to El as Billy finally sat back with a less confused expression. And the silence fell across them. 

"he's talking. " 

Steve let out a relieved sigh, thank god, maybe he did just run off to go see his mom. Everyone had a similar expression but El let out a shaky breath and shook her hair. "Dustin?" she whispered. Steve's breath got caught in his throat again. "Hurt. " she stated, and everyone began panicking again. Steve felt like he was falling. Back into memories of scraped to the bone knees and checking himself into hospitals. 

"El? Where is he?" El shook her head. . Mike stood up, pacing around the room. Steve wanted to tell them it was gonna be okay, that dustin was fine. But he couldn't. His brain. Was shouting warnings after warnings and he could practically feel the wooden handle of his baseball bat. But he bit his lip, closing his eyes when billy's hand slipped into his. The silence continued in shaky breaths and mike's socked feet against tile flooring. Will bit his thumb. They really couldn't catch a break could they? He wanted to punch a hole into the wall and get his mom to move him and the people he loved out id the country and definitely not in Russia. Or Hawkins. 

The silence, thick with worry and tainted with despair was broken by El's screams. She pulled the scarf off her face and immediately Mike and Max were there to hold her. Steve's anxiety almost reached peak point at her screams and he vigorously wiped away tears. God please, he begged, please if you're out there don't let anything happen to that kid. After a few seconds of recovery El sat up, "he's asking for you. " she whispered to steve. "says your pool is cursed, and that you need to get to him." 

steve gawked at her. "El please, where is he?" El frowned. "not here. " everyone saw will tense. "eleven? Do you mean The Upside Down?" he asked shakily. Everyone looked around in fear. She shook her head, wiping away a drop of blood and glaring up at Lucas, who took mike's spot in pacing with worry. "not here, not hawkins. " Steve gripped billy's hand even harder. 

His entire face paled with the memories of secret spies and mall bathrooms. "not here, " he insisted. And El gulped with regret. And at the same time they said what was on everyone's mind. "Russia. "


	7. Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter seven: green apple life savers, Dustin is tired of everyone's shit, and makes a life changing discovery. 
> 
> Word count: 1,469

Dustin let out another shaky laugh, trying to ignore the tears running down his cheeks. He'd been talking since he regained consciousness a while ago, any actual concept of time was thrown out the window when he realized that being tied to a chair in a completely grey room with one door and no windows that no, he had no idea how long he'd been in here. His first thought was obviously the Russians, Steve was the dumbass who told them his full name anyways, (not that he'd ever put any blame on his cool older brother, because no, no matter what shit the Russians ((if they even were Russians,)) put him through he made a promise.) he sighed, a silly part of him wanted to believe that even if he couldn't see her, el was right there with them, so that's why he kept talking. 

"You think the Russians will give me some sort of attention if I start speaking Russian?" He asked the air. He waited for a response, like el could talk to him. He shook his head as if answering his own question and sighing. His arms were numb and he could barely move his fingers, the ropes were tight against him and honest to god he had no idea if they planned on untying him, because is it possible to get paralyzed from this? Holy shit, please don't paralyze me, he begged. "Hey steve if you can hear me can you please tell billy that if I die he doesn't get my records? Okay those are getting buried with me, tough love." He bit his lip, before swinging his legs, and rolling his head like he has been for the past,,a while. 

He let out a frustrated groan, "for hell's sake! Can someone untie me?" Silence, like always. He let out a crazed laugh. Isolation was getting to him, he might actually burst from the inside out if he doesn't see someone's face in the next A WHILE. He burst into tears, kicking roughly at the floor and slamming his numb fists into the side of the metal chair, 'new goal,' he thought, 'make enough annoying noises for them to yell at you,' he slammed his foot back into the leg of the metal chair. He spat on the floor next to him.   
  
"Alright Dipshits! Let me go!" Silence, holy shit he was getting so tired tired of silence. He felt like he could hear his own eyelashes against his skin when closed them. With tears running down his cheeks the silence ran him over like a truck. Or like dad ruffling his hair before he grabbed the suitcase and told him he loved him. Silence reminded him of his dad, and life before fourth grade. Moving too hawkins gave him another chance. A monster killing, loving, badass, perfect chance. He bit his lip, and opened his eyes. Expecting to see the blank grey wall but instead he saw a very tall man. His entire body jumped out of itself and he braced himself for an actual near death if not actually getting murdered experience. 

He let out a gasp of air. And met his eyes with a very tall man, who was staring at him with an intent glare. He mustered up every ounce of sanity and bravery inside his body and slammed his heel into the man's feet. "The hell is your problem?! Untie me!" he yelled. The man continued to stay still, before letting out a huff of air and squatting down to meet his eyes. Two sets of baby blue eyes met with two completely different emotions. "Listen," the voice spoke, rich with Russian accents confirming dustin's theory about where he is. "I want to help you." Dustin laughed, right in his face, he went to kick him but the man roughly grabbed his leg and he cried out in pain. "Bullshit!" He screamed. 

The man kept a steady glare, before looking around the room for something, "I can untie you, and take you to the other American if you promise to behave." Dustin blinked at him before scoffing. "Yeah sure." He said, his tone thick with uncertainty. The man reached over to slowly work out the knots of itching rope behind his chair. With his arms now completely free from their blistered cave, he waved them wildly to get the feeling back in his numb fingers. Cracking his knuckles, he stood up from his chair prison and almost ran around the room in excitement, as he ran a hand through his tangled curls. 

The man who dustin has now nicknamed green apple life saver from the sickly green color that flushed his face when he opened the door and lead dustin down a simple grey wall grey floor hallway. Dustin practically radiated sunshine excitement against the dreary rain cloud grey that the room fell with. The idea of walking and having free control of his movements was enough to bring him a big toothless grin, and he couldn't give a damn if they were leading him to his doom, he was moving. It took him about 15 minutes of walking to realize that the long tunnel he was walking through reeked with nostalgia and he decided right then and there that he liked walking with steve and his family a lot better. 

He wondered if erica will still wait to watch my little pony with him or if everyone forgot about it. Maybe mom is running around frantic for her little boy, or maybe, just maybe, she drowned her lost men in love for cats and meltdowns in the middle of the night when she thought he was safe in Star Wars bed sheets from dad yelling and cats disappearing. The idea of his mom replacing him with a cat the way she did dad, the idea of her getting rid of his pictures and forgetting his name left a sour taste in his mouth and he felt like green apple lifesavers too. 

The hallways seemed to kill him the longer they went on, sunshine smiles ripped from him and replaced with grey rain clouds and the idea of everyone forgetting about him. He hated to think about Steve moving on and forgetting him too. Or billy. As much as he didn't admit it to the party, he and max really enjoyed spending time with billy and steve. Whether it be sitting in a diner across the street from the arcade because they had a while to spare before the rest of the party got there. or sitting by the creek, skipping rocks while steve and billy sat on the hood of the Billy's bright blue Camaro, the good kind of silence washed over Dustin's body as Madonna played in the background, Steve and max pelting out the lyrics perfectly. The four had some sort of pact, bonding of bad fathers and their respective siblings being in love. Although he would deny any accusations about his father, or Steve being his older brother figure either. 

So yeah, the idea of the three moving on without him caused each step to burn and green apple life saver to speed up and scoff at him, like he didn't want to be here either. The hallways ended in a large rusted iron door different from Dustin's containment cell, this looked like something out of a horror movie and it made him ill to think that someone was in there, another American. A code was sharply punched in by green apple, and Dustin realized just so sickly he looked, his baby blue eyes battled with the pukey green color tinting his skin. His cheekbones were sucked in and he was so frail and small, he reminded him a bit of Dr.brenner and that made his stomach drop uncomfortably. 

Green apple life saver had curly hair just like him but it looked like it hasn't been showered in months. The sunshine on Dustin's freckled face was nowhere near evident on his face. Dustin inferred that this guy doesn't have the best living conditions, or that maybe he didn't have any at all. The hurry of all of his actions made dustin uneasy, and the door was roughly pushed open and he was shoved through. 

"I'll be-" an American accent cut through his voice and he panicked before clearing it roughly and speaking again. "I'll be just outside this door." Dustin frowned as it closed. Why was it so important to trap him inside with some random American. "Kid?" A voice croaked out from the corner behind him and Dustin paled. He turned around and gasped at the sight in front of him.

"Hopper?"


	8. Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter eight: Dustin and Hopper bond meanwhile the Byers' house is a disaster, and Steve is completely freaking out. 
> 
> TW: panic attack 
> 
> Word count: 1360

Dustin felt like he had the world's biggest migraine. Hopper seemed to have all of the energy he had the day of the mall fight, and as far as he knew , was completely utterly alive. He was totally baffled, and everything about him made him want to start crying or run away because, holy shit dude this guy died. He ran a hand through his curls and felt sick to his stomach. All those times were el was sobbing because she missed him, or when they went to the police station just to sit in his office because maybe if they tried hard enough they could still hear his voice. Because when mrs byers broke down crying at his funeral, and refused to eat an Enzo's, all of that meant nothing. 

He pressed his thumbs into his eyes and stopped pacing, "you're supposed to be dead!" He accused shoving a hand in his general direction. His head was completely splitting in half and he thought about what would happen if he wasn't taken here. Why did green apple lifesaver take him to hopper anyways? He kicked at the ground, "is mrs wheeler-" he choked out, but he couldn't get the rest out. His world was spinning and crashing around itself and he felt like he had to run a hundred miles a minute to understand the whiplash of emotions that came over him because hopper was breathing, so maybe Mrs.wheeler is too? 

"Kid, Calm down." Hoppers gruff but yet very much alive voice sounded beside him and he resisted the urge to scoff. He wasn't gonna calm down! What was he supposed to do? Take this entire situation with open eyes and be cool with everything? Joyce lost the love of her life and every time they grieved he was just being held in Russian captivity. He let out a sob, "did they hurt you? How did you get here? If they hurt you, El will put them six feet under in a heartbeat." He finally turned his head to look at him, Incase maybe this was some sort of Russian ploy to get him to reveal some sort of secret upside down information. 

It wouldn't be the worst form of torture but torture nonetheless, next thing he knew they were probably gonna send in some guy who looks like his dad. Hopper looked sickly pale, aching with discomfort at every breath. His once very evident belly now sunk in against brittle bones and the discoloration of his skin battled with the purple edges of his fingers and the dark sleepless bags underneath his eyes. The once horrible at anger management police officer with a heart of gold for the people he loved was curled up almost helpless in a Russian jail cell, fragile skin against the cold metal wall. Dustin hoped to every god that el wasn't spying on him, because he didn't want el to see her father like this. She's been through enough. He pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth in thought as hopper shook his head and flashed him an almost smile. 

"They didn't hurt me, kid, in fact they won't do anything with me. That's the scary part. I've been here months with nothing but water. The guy who brought you in? Never got his name but he's familiar, can't quite place it, though. Told me they got a kid. Didn't realize it was you." Dustin blinked, they had planned to get him sure? Oh god, what if he was the wrong kid? They would probably use some sort of Russian killing device on him. 'Oh steve, you better come quick' he thought. "Are we in Russia?" He croaked out, his world was twisting around in interlocking knots, nothing made sense anymore and it left a sick taste in his mouth. He wanted to be in the back of Billy's camaro drawing on el's converse, not here.

"Don't know, somewhere, not Hawkins though. H-how's Jane?" He whispered. Hopper sat up more giving Dustin his full attention. Dustin looked around at the small grey windowless cell. It suffocated him in uncomfortablity. He slid against the wall, pulling his knees up to his chest, they're going to have to wait anyways, why not fill him in? "Well, you won't believe what she's doing hop, she's skateboarding." Hopper smiled a wide almost comforting smile. The same sense of joy and relief washed over him when Steve messed up his hair. And for once since he had gotten here he was calm in that Russian jail cell, if they were in Russia that is. 

-

Back at the Byer's house, a map of the world was spread out across the table. Joyce wrapped her fingers around the phone cord as Claudia Henderson droned on about her missing son. It had been a full day since Dustin's disappearance and trying to lie to the poor woman about not knowing her son's whereabouts made her ill, the restless feeling of unease she had those years ago when Will was trapped below them resurfaced and she assured Claudia one last time that they will do everything in their power to find him. She slammed the phone shakily against the receiver and looked back at the living room. 

The tv kept on a static channel created a thick uncomfortable environment. Lucas and Max were sitting on the floor near the arm chair talking quietly amongst themselves. Mike sat firmly against El's side as she held that same picture frame as before. She was drained, having walked down a long terrifying hallway with Dustin in silence took everything out of her leaving her to pass out before the rest of the kids fell into a dreamless unsafe slumber, tucked tightly against one another as a life line. Joyce had closed her eyes too, but not before she saw robin wrap an arm around a shaking Steve Harrington. It seemed his attitude hadn't changed since then, he bit his lip tightly as he held onto Billy's hand for dear life. 

She couldn't help but notice will's intense worrying stare at steve, his brows furrowed together as he clasped his hands tightly against one another. "Steve?" Will called, gaining everyone's attention as Steve seemed to drown in his thoughts. Joyce ran into the room as she saw him run two shivering hands against his scalp, he closed his eyes as his chest fell rapidly against the grey shirt he'd worried himself to sleep in yesterday. Blurry horrified tears ran down his face, his stomach fell into a pit of itself and his head span itself around in circles of endless bad thoughts and heavy breaths. And Russians. His breath got caught in his throat as Billy ushered him into the couch. Pressing his palms into his eyes tightly the pain grounded him. He felt someone running their fingers through his hair. His heart was beating seventeen miles a minute and it clogged up his throat with what if questions and the idea of anyone hurting Dustin. He flopped his head against Billy's shoulder when the tears died down, his heart slowly pumping blood through the rest of his body again. Everyone sat breathing heavily, running calloused hands across tired faced and stressing hairs. 

The static in the tv flipped off , and the Bandana was thrown across the room as el let out a heart breaking shriek. She pulled at stands of her hair and looked around wildly. "No! No! No!" She screamed. Her legs kicked underneath her as max jumped from her spot to calm her down. Blood mixed with tears fell against Mrs. Byers carpet and el pressed her head into Max's chest, "Hopper!' She called out. Joyce froze, cigarette pushed against her lips with shaky hands as el thrashed in Max's arms again. "Hopper! He's alive." El let out another gasp of air, throwing the map against the ceiling and across the floor. 

"He's alive." She sobbed out, gripping the braided blue bracelet on her wrist.


	9. Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter nine: green apple life saver is a traitor, Dustin looses his cool in far too many ways
> 
> Word count: 2,524 :)

Russia, Dustin decided, wasn't as bad as he thought it was. Hopper was good familiar company, and green apple life saver would come in every now and then. Like before, time was completely off for him. He would stay awake until he was tired, and wake up when he wasn't. It could have been a full month or 2 days. All he knew is that, hopper had lots of questions, and that sometimes he would get snappy and he could tell he missed El more than anything else. Right now hopper was upset. As selfish as it was, Dustin hated when hopper was upset because then it meant that no one was going to talk to him, and he had to talk to stay sane. He traced a smiley face on the wall and let out a huff of air. His eyes burned from the darkness that stuck to every inch of the cell. Every time he closed them he saw dots of beige and bright blue and purple mix together and cloud every thought of suzie and steve and everyone who meant something to him. Oh my god, he thought, suzie must be so worried. He sniffed. He just wanted to go home. Being kidnapped was kinda cool at first but the horrifyingly boring routine of being a hostage made him twitchy with anticipation. Why aren't they doing anything with him? His stomach plummeted, why aren't they doing anything with him? He bit his lip in worry, standing up suddenly and pacing. His sneakers squeaked against the concrete floor, and his body was hot with worry. His vision blurred together with sickly pale grey walls and the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling that almost grazed his brown curls when he paced through the cell. Hopper let out a groan, "Kid." He spat. Getting up and holding himself together with the wall. The bags under his eyes sat the most evident on his face and it left him looking sickly small and ill. "Kid, stop pacing, oh my god." Dustin couldn't even reply. He felt like he was floating, floating in worry, floating in monsters and cells and green apple lifesavers. His lips chapped painfully and he kicked the wall. Letting out a cry at his foot meeting harsh concrete painted walls. The pain made him feel twistingly alive. He slammed his fist into the wall, it crunched with Agony and he let out a wail. Running his other hand through his hair. They darted around wildly. He wanted to see the sun, every part of him was antsy with seeing the same thing over and over. "We have to get out of here." He whispered shakily. He finally turned to look at hopper. The worry was evident in his eyes as he reached out for the smaller kid. "Hopper, please, we have to get out of here." Hopper shook his head, curling in on himself again. "Kid, we can't, Russia." Dustin let out another frustrated groan and stopped himself from punching his burning knuckles against the wall again. He looked around the room, before going to the door and practically body slamming into it. The walls were closing in on him, he could practically feel hoppers worry on the back of his throat and he felt like he was dying, if this is what death was like he wanted it to stop right now. As if a Miracle, the door opened. Dustin let out a gasp, the light seeped in from the hallway, and he practically cried at seeing a different space. Green apple life saver slipped in, and went to close the door but Dustin jumped into action, sliding his fingers in between the door and the wall he grasped it tightly around the door handle on the other side. "No," he begged. Green apple life saver sent him a worried look before dawning his previously showed disappointed one. "I'm sorry, hop." He spoke quickly. The thick Russian accent slipped as he wiped away a tear. "I tried to stop them, really." Rich with American heritage, he ran a hand through his hair as hopper didn't reply. A grim smile fell onto his face, hopper rubbed at his eyes and went to move for the door. "Kid, I gotta go," Dustin gawked at him. Hopper now stood tall and if you didn't look closely you couldn't even tell he was frail and sick. Green apple life saver refused to speak at this point. Dustin couldn't process a single thing happening around him. "No, where are you going?" He asked. No one responded, green apple life saver gripped at his shoulder and went to move him from the door. "No!" He yelled, "where are you going?" He asked again, louder, he wasn't going to let them go anywhere, hopper was his last safety net from Hawkins if hopper was gone, then so is home. He can't let some stupid Russian (is he even Russian?) take that away from him. Hopper gave him a look, but Dustin shook his head. "Where you are going?" His voice cracked, soft at the end, matching with the tears suddenly pricking his eyes. There was no response again. Hopper moved him from the door. "You're gonna get out of here kid, and when you do? Tell Jane I love her." The door opened wide again. A hand fell simply against his shoulder and squeezes it. He met eyes with green apple life saver. "I hate you." Green apple life saver closed his eyes, disappointment washed over his sickly green face and fell against his features in sadness. "I know," he replied. The door fell to be closed again as green apple life saver exited as well. Dustin's instincts whipped him around violently and he grabbed at the door, trapping it in between his fingers. He was getting the hell out of here. And he was getting the hell out of her with Hopper. 

The walls of the hallway reminded him of his first visit, and the secret Russian base in the mall. It left a sense of uncertainty in his actions as he silently followed green apple life saver and hopper down the hall way. Hopper and him were talking, he could tell by the muffled voices, whispers that were so low they couldn't be matched with words unless you were right in front of them surrounded Dustin's thoughts as his sneakers did their hardest to not squeal against tile floor. He bit his lip and stood still, waiting behind a few seconds against the corner. He laid his head against the wall. He wanted to laugh in joy at the idea of him walking more than a cell. But the happy thoughts of being out of containment were tainted by the thoughts of escape. Anxiety creeped up inside his skull and poured out through his eyes as he bit back a cry. They were in Russian, they had no food, no money, they spoke only English , and Hawkins was an entire country away, there was no way to get to them. He held his head in his hands, recollecting himself and speeding up his walk. Hopper and green apple were now at a giant door. Dustin's breath got caught in his throat. The walls next to him were now littered with doors similar to the ones that held him and hopper. Oh my god, what if there were more people? He went to open one of them before stopping. Down the hall some. Hopper was opening the door. Rustling and screeching were heard louder as the door opened further. Dustin's skin crawled, he can tell that squeal from anywhere. "Demogorgan," he breathed. He jumped into action. "Hopper!" He yelled, "you can't do this!" He screamed. Hopper hand fell from the doorknob, and he turned to yell at dustin, but the creature went to slip out of the door. A sickly goopy hand fell from the door and green apple screamed, slamming the door shut on the arm. It cracked and sprayed blood? Against the wall, the arm fell to the ground in a shriek and it flopped dead on the floor. Dustin's breathing sped up, "you were gonna kill your self!" He announced, meeting both their eyes. Anger burned in his soul. "Why? Why were you going to do that? Eleven needs you! I need you! Hawkins needs you, Joyce needs you. You can't leave me here, no scratch that, you wouldn't leave here, you act like you have no heart but you have a bigger heart than all of Hawkins combine." He croaked out. He pointed at green apple lifesaver accusingly. "And you! You were okay with this? Who do you think you are? Do you want to get us out of here or not? Are you working with the Russians or not? You're such bullshit! Cut the shit and tell me what's going on here?" His eyes darted to the doors on either side of him. "And what other monsters are you keeping here? Is there a gooey human bones mindflayer asshole waiting on the other side of that one? Is that just gonna eat me too?" Talking this much for the first time since Hawkins ached at his throat and left him wanting a drink of water. He breathed heavily as green apple life saver reached out to him, "Kid, calm down." He clenched his fists, "both of you need to stop calling me a child because I have more maturity than any monster in this room and that includes you! I just want to go home...I just want to go home." He ended with a whisper. "Is there prisoners in those cells?" He asked again, lowering his voice. Nobody responded but hopper looked up at green apple life saver in hopes of a response.

"No,the left one is empty." He replied, his feet more interesting then the curly haired boy with a mouth of fire. "But the right?" Dustin pressed. Green apple life saver inhaled, "that one isn't empty." 

Behind the door, Dustin realized after opening it, was a small girl. Flashbacks of the boys finding Eleven in the forest, stuck to each other in rain fell into his brain as she sat, head shaved against her scalp. Her eyes darted around nervously at him. He looked back to hopper and green apple life saver. "Hello, what's your name?" He asked. Trying not to sound as freaked out as he felt she was. 

"Thirteen ." She whispered lowly, pulling out her arm to show him the 013 printed in thick block letters on her wrist. Dustin let out a shaky breath. "Okay thirteen, I'm Dustin. You have, abilities?" He whispered, he crouched down next to her curled up form. Freckles littered her face and battled for attention with her bright blue eyes, a wore and tore hospital gown danced across her skin as she looked at him apprehendedly, she didn't respond, instead she closed her eyes and suddenly, "hello." She whispered from across the room. Dustin looked up in suprise, his eyes frantically looked around the room before finding her now curled up in a different corner. She gave him a shy smile as he smiled wide. "Teleportation." He called out to her. He got up off the ground, spinning in excitement, "teleportation!" He called out to everyone around him. He whipped around to hopper giddy with excitement. "She's the key. Thirteen is the key." He pointed at her as she smiled shyly as the praise in his voice. "Thirteen can get us out of here. She can get us home!" Hopper sent his a sharp forced smile, "i dont think she can teleport us kid." He tried but Dustin's excitement was almost contagious. And he didn't mind the idea of going home in fact, going home was the only thing he wanted. He wanted to go home and be with Jane. Green apple life saver pressed his lips together. "That's not. A good idea." He spat. His voice was laced with aggression and it sent Dustin's mood spiraling down in a minute, he looked up at him in anger, "what are you talking about dipshit?"   
Thirteen stood up, her small frame took steps to meet Dustin's, she looked at everyone as their eyes fell to her. She wiped a drop of blood from her nose, "Where is Home?" She asked innocently. Dustin turned to her, "do you know where you're from? Do you remember a life before this cell?" He asked, hopefully. She stood for a minute, her eyebrows knitted together in concentration before she smiled brightly, her feature were soft with childish glee, and her rosy cheeks and freckles left Dustin to infer that she was a young child, maybe 10 or 11 at most. "Cal- uh - forn- yuh!" She sounded out happily. "Mama liked it there, before she left me with papa." She said, nodding intensely at her answer, Dustin smiled again, "my friend billy! He's from California. That's his home. So California is your home too, can you teleport there? Can you teleport home?" He asked hopefully. Thirteen thought for a moment, "Dunno." She responded. Hopeful expressions dawned on hopper and Dustin's face. Green apple life saver looked around the hallways. "You weren't supposed to find her." He told dustin. Dustin glared at him, "I don't give a damn if I wasn't supposed to. Stop getting in the way so much! Who even are you? Do you even have a name?" Green apple life saver looked down. "Robert." He replied shakily. The fake Russian accent, Dustin realized, was completely gone. Dustin glared at him, the name was achingly familiar, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Hopper was looking at him like he was an alien. Dustin raised an eyebrow before turning back to thirteen, "okay, we can try. Do you wanna try?" He asked, she smiled at him nodding. "Can you teleport me into the other corner?" He asked holding out his hand. Thirteen looked at it curiously, she reached out hesitantly before grasping it, and closing her eyes. Every inch of Dustin's body felt like it's cell we're breaking apart and reattaching themselves all over again, his organs felt like they were pushing against each other and he swore his eyes popped out of their sockets and he braced himself for actually exploding, but then, everything was over. He opened one to see a smile on her childish face. "I did it." She stated. And Dustin smiled. His eyes pricked with tears again ( he felt like he'd been crying a lot recently,) "Yeah, you did it." His eyes met hoppers, and saw the older man smiling at him. Dustin almost laughed hysterically. "You need to shave," he thought before meeting eyes with Robert. He was leaning in the door way, frowning and looking everywhere but Dustin, "you look familiar" Dustin stated but shook his head and dismissed his own statement. "Were gonna get out of here." Dustin decided, and that was final.


	10. Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tw: talking of god, death, heaven, and the Bible. 
> 
> Chapter ten: el goes through a stream of emotions, Steve and billy have a moment, we get a plan. 
> 
> Word count: 1,493

Eleven was a smart girl. She learned her math and her history as fast as any other kid, and was going to start school next year as a freshman. One year behind her friends but it didn't matter. She was on top of the world. And she knew that no matter what happened, Hopper was watching her. Up in the sky. One night she was crying into his police chief hat. His note grasped firmly in her small hands when billy sat next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and told her that the people they loved weren't really gone. He told her about heaven and the Bible, he told her about the clouds and the city of hope that sit on top of them. He told her about god, and how people like his mama and her police man were watching them in the clouds. The next day he bought her a cross necklace, the gold chain was cold against her neck and it gave a sense of connection between her and her police man. Now the necklace sat on the floor from where she had previously thrown it. She was sick with anger. Because god was so wrong. God had made her believe her police man was gone and in the clouds when really he was in a cell across the world. God hated her, she decided. God was no saint, he was a very bad man. She pressed her hands into eyes and threw a pillow across the room. The bed sank next to her, telling her there was another presences next to her. She lifted her hands from her eyes, black dots surrounded the corners of her vision and she blinked them away to see Max looking at her worriedly. "Hey wonderwoman, how are you holding up?" El shook her head. She looked at the pillow on the floor and threw it into her arms. She wrapped herself around it, and fell into Max's open arms. "God hates me." She told her, "god made me believe he was gone and now he isn't . Why'd he make me so sad, he must hate me." Max sat silent for a moment before shaking her head, "sometimes god is mean to people who don't deserve it, it doesn't mean he hates them." She justifies. "God made dad hurt billy a lot, you know he liked to him. Do you think billy thinks god hates him?" She asks her. El shook her head, "billy says god holds the door open for a life of happiness when he goes away." Max smiled at her. "God doesn't hate you." She ran her fingers through El's hair. "We're going to get hop back, okay El? Were gonna get hopper and Dustin back and Dustin is gonna annoy the shit out of us, okay?" She stopped to close her eyes and press her tongue to the roof of her mouth. She held back tears. "Hopper will be there to drop you off at school. And Dustin's gonna help you with science homework. Just like nothing happened. Okay? God does mean things sometimes but god doesn't hate you. It's gonna work out." El sniffed, and reached down to grab her cross. "Pray with me?" She whispers, reaching out to grab Max's hand. "Okay" the red head whispered, and intertwined their fingers. 

-

Steve sat on the byer's porch, he fiddled with a hair tie that billy handed him when they left the house. He wrapped it around his thumb before pulling it off and laying his head weakly on Billy's shoulder. "I miss him." He said. Billy wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pressed a kiss into steves hair. "Both of them. Hop was more of a dad to me than my own." Billy closed his eyes. The Hawkins wind nipped at his nose and pushed a curl behind his ear. Steve's hair flipped in the wind, and his eyes twirled in honey brown against the setting sun. "One time, I was babysitting el, and she." He sniffed and wrapped the hair tie around his thumb and index finger and stretched them. "She got flour all over the cabin floor. And hopper came home from work and he laughed so hard at that, that el threw the entire bag of flour at his face." Steve let out a sour laugh. And billy decided that he liked steves genuine giggle a lot better. "We had a Flour fight and I had flour stuck In my hair for a week." He ended. Billy pulled him closer. The cold sunset air left goosebumps against Billy's skin, but he didn't care. His leather jacket sat upon steves shoulders and it was rolled up at the sleeves so he could see his finger tips and billy was practically love stricken. He smiled softly at him and kissed his cheek. "You mean everything to me." He whispered and steve blushed. "I'm sensitive! You can't just say cute stuff like that with no warning!" Steve whined, hiding his face in Billy's chest. Billy closed his eyes, and for a second they were completely okay, and Dustin wasn't missing. And hopper was in the clouds. And life was good. The door to the Byers house was slammed open and robins head peaked out, "hey love birds hate to interrupt your moment but el has a plan, and it requires a driver." The door was closed again and steve sat up from billys embrace. "We aren't driving to russia are we?" He joked. And billy leaned down to kiss him. Because he was just so damn pretty at sunset.

-

"Okay im sorry," billy announced, voice laced with confusion. "So were driving to middle of shit no where Pennsylvania to meet with elevens sister Kali and her gang so that we can dig up other numbered kids and form a superhero team?" 

Everyone went silent before Lucas nodded, "Yeah, in simple terms." Billy scoffed. "Oh my god were forming a misunderstood kid club of avengers." He called out, rubbing his eyes. He was loosing his sanity oh my god. Steve slammed his hands on the table to gain everyone's attention. "Actually baby, I love you, but I think it's a great idea. I mean if these kids are as talented as el. There has to be one who can help us find our family. They mean a lot us, I'm willing to go to the ends of the earth to find Dustin and I mean that." Eleven sent steve a wide smile, and bumped shoulders with max. Max smiled sweetly at her brother. "It's not a bad idea billy." Nancy shook her head, "there's so many loopholes. What if eleven's sister doesn't want to help?" Eleven shook her head firmly, "she will." She stated harshly. And stared down nancy. Will hit his lip. "So we find a super kid who can get us to Dustin and hopper, if that's what we're trying to do. What do we do if we get to Russia? Is that the plan? Get to Russia?" Everyone fell silent once again. Joyce light her cigarette. "It's a slim chance, but it's a chance we should take. What if a...super kid...as were calling them is the key to finding hop." Mike sat up, speaking for once. "If this puts El's life in danger-" he started but Will groaned, "Eleven is strong and can deal with anything put her way. Were thinking about hopper and Dustin here." Will spat, putting mike in his place. Steve's heart soared at the idea of finding someone to help them find his little brother. He aches with anticipation, his eyes met robins. "Robin? Input would be greatly appreciated." Robin walked forward, and looked at the map, she grabbed the pen from billy and circled a town in Pennsylvania. "Honesdale PA." She supplied. It has a huge library, its a super old town. It's gotta have some documents about brenner and Hawkins' shitty experiments. Its a good start." Everyone looked around, before Joyce blew a huff of air with her cigarette. "Its settled then, we start driving early morning tomorrow, it's eight hours, so we'd get there by.." "three," lucas answered. "If we leave at seven," max supplied. "We grab kali and her...gang. We hit the library, we find a super kid." Everyone nodded and sat silent for a moment. Billy slipped his hand into steves. A hopeful look was set into his brown eyes as they met blue. And billy wanted to promise him they'd find the boy. But he couldn't. So instead he held him in his arms. And hoped that was enough. By god, he thought, the clouds better support them. Because it might have to be enough. It might have to.


	11. Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11: Robert?, Dustin is drowning in emotions, ass kicking. 
> 
> Word count: 1,448

How long have you been here, thirteen?" Dustin asked, watching as the young girl wiped a smear of blood onto her hospital gown, he scrunched up his nose, "when we get out of here? Steve will take you shopping. He's so good at that. Him and billy? They love taking el and max shopping." She tilted her head at him in confusion. He chuckled, "my.. Steve. He's my.." He bit his lip, "Steve's kinda like my big brother. Billy is his boyfriend." She smiles, "Steve." She repeats. Dustin practically gleamed with pride. He nodded. She gave him another toothy grin, before hopper let out a laugh, "can't believe billy got himself with harrington. Those two are so different." Dustin shook his head, "no way, chief! Billy's a real softy. Steve brings out the best in him." Robert blinked at them. "Who's Steve?" Dustin raised his eyebrows, "wouldn't you like to know, Robert. " Dustin spat, crossing his arms. Thirteen mimicked his action sand he smiled wildly at her. tapped her shoulder before turning back to see green apple life saver and hopper staring at them. "Do you think she can do it, hop? Get us home?" Hopper blinked before smiling at him through tired eyes and overgrown facial hair. Robert bit his lip, "Hopper. They're going to get suspicious soon." Hopper sighed, sliding a hand down his face tiredly. He glared at Robert before turning back to dustin. "She'll get you home kid. I don't," He turned back to Robert. The sound of faint footsteps against the floor made thirteen jump to her feet. She looked around terrified and turned to dustin for help. "Shit, hop? What's going on?" He called out, stepping in front of thirteen as if he could protect the super powered ten year old girl, honestly, he thought she might be the one protecting him. Green apple life saver paled, and whipped his head out of the cell, speaking in Russian at a fast nervous pace. Dustin's breath caught in his throat. Robert's head poked back into the cell, he smiled like nothing was wrong. "Hey, listen kids, I'm gonna tell you right now you have atleast 15 seconds before government Russian officials burst into the room, Guns a blazin'. Okay? You're gonna be okay, but you have to get out right now." Dustin stood thick with shock, his entire body felt like it was crumbling, "your voice is so familiar," he called out as the footsteps stopped outside the door. Green apple life saver, no Robert, Robert is his name, pressed his body to the door. Hopper rushed to thirteen, "Okay kid you gotta get us home okay? No pressure-" as the guns banged into the door Dustin's brain did a completely three sixty, "no!" He screamed, we can't leave yet, they couldn't, not until he placed the name to a face. That voice, holy shit that voice. Thirteen grabbed his hand, and he pulled away, "No! Not yet!" Hopper glared at him, "Kid I don't give two damns about whatever you're doing, grab the girls hand!" The guns slammed into the door, and Robert ran a hand down his face, "ohmygodohmygodohmygodOHMYGOD." He rambled. Dustin's brain clicked together like a lego set, "Dad?" He screamed. Roberts entire body froze, and for a few seconds he let his guard down. Not very long, in a flash, but long enough for Russian guns to bang loudly into the door. Thirteen popped out of place and the door burst open, the usually ominously quiet hallway was full of Russian soldiers and Dustin was drowning. Oh my god, dad, he was drowning. Because he remembered life before dad left, life before mom chose her cats over her son because Dustin's eyes were so much like his father's she couldn't look him in the eye for a good year. "You left," He whispered, frozen still in ice cold water, he was submerging and he had no idea how to get out, his lips felt like they were turning blue and he was slipping and falling into a pit of resurfaced emotions. Life before Hawkins, where dad took him out for icecream. Because, sure he was right here, right? But he couldn't be. How did Robert Henderson get to Russia? Hopper had pushed the kid into the corner, watching as Dustin's eyes glazed over and his whole body shook with terror. He punched a Russian square in the jaw, ducking behind a muzzle of a gun going towards his head. He saw thirteen pop up every now and then and punch one smack in the jaw. She popped out of place and popped back Down the hall, "Here I am!" She called. The Russians all ran at her, she let them get close enough to run their fingers at her medical gown before teleporting behind them and laughing. Hopper gawked at her, "Kid," he started, but he couldn't even finish his sentence. He elbowed a Russian in the chest and kicked his knee, watching as he fell to the ground. He heard Robert trying to talk to the kid, but he heard Dustin Let out a cry and tried to ignore them. Hopper stared shocked at the fragile child who seemed to be able to kick ass better than he could. Which was in fact true, she could kick ass better than him. She reminded him painfully of Jane. He would do anything to be at home stacking eggo waffles to the ceiling with her. Not here. 

"Kid its me. I know it's been awhile." Robert tried, he really tried. He placed a hand on Dustin's shoulder but the kid almost burned at the touch, pulling away and jumping. " a while?" He cried, "it's been a lot longer than a while!" Robert reached out again but Dustin slapped his hand away. "You don't even know me! How the hell did you get to russia? Was hurting innocent kids like thirteen and eleven more important than your family?" He spat. Tears gleamed in his eyes and he wrapped his arms around himself, shaking. Robert's mouth shaped into an "o" and he sighed, pressing his thumb into his eye. "It's a long story, but-" Dustin shook his head. "I don't care." Robert gawked, "I wanted to be apart of your life, son." Dustin shook his head. "If you wanted to, you'd have been there. Not here." Robert was at a loss for words. He paced around the room, as he heard thirteen laugh and hopper laugh right after. He hurt his son just like he had heard Claudia when he told her about his job for the famous dr.brenner. He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry kid. You'll understand someday." He told him. Dustin refused to speak as thirteen Rushed Into the room. Her nose was dripping thick with crimson and smiling wild. Her smile disappeared at Dustin's tears. "Sad?" She asked. He shook his head and forced a smile. "Bad men," he responded locking eyes with Robert. She nodded. "We got them." She sounded out. Holding out her hand she offered it to him. "Home? To steve?" She asked. Dustin wiped at his nose, "yes, home, to steve." He grabbed her hand and she lead him to the hallway. Hopper's knuckles were scraped and bruised but thirteen didn't seem to care as she held out her tiny one for him. Hopper grabbed him. "Home okay?" Dustin choked out. "Home, to California remember? Where mama was?" She nodded happily, "Home to California." And before Robert could finish his goodbyes, his son had walked out on him. And he felt what Dustin's grief was all those years coursing through him. 

Floating in between cells and teleporting across the world left an ache on your body, Dustin realized as he collapsed against hopper, the three of them laid in a puddle on the sidewalk. A fancy lady in a pantsuit talking loudly into a headpiece scoffed at them and click clacked away on her high heels. Dustin's eyes burned at the sun. His entire body felt sickly cold against the hot sidewalk. He wanted to kiss the sidewalk and also cry into a cold cell floor all at the same time. Thirteen was giddy with kiddish wonder. She stood up, and twirled around. Her eyes held stars at the bright lights surrounding her. The streets bustled around her. She was smiling so wide it hurt. She grabbed at Dustin's hand, "California ?" She asked. Dustin went to nod, before twirling around with her. "Hopper?" He choked out. Hopper grunted in response, holding his head in his hands. 

"Hopper this isn't California."


	12. Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter twelve: slushies, car rides, and thirteen sees the world, but not home. 
> 
> Word count: 1,748

Robin Buckley decided that she hated long car rides. Especially breaking every single law possible by shoving every kid into 2 cars. She was saddled with billy, Nancy, Jonathan, and will. Which overall wouldn't have been that bad if Nancy and Jonathan would stop giving each other those eyes. She knew that Steve was long over his feelings for Nancy wheeler, but cheating on him with Byers still left robin angry, she was trying to get over it though. Also, no hate to mrs.byers either but what was she thinking splitting up steve and billy? Honestly steve harrington is the most codependent person she's ever met (not that she minded, sure her best friend could be overdramatic at times but he means well) and the idea of spending the next eight hours watching will draw wasn't as bad as what hopper and dustin are probably going through. She didn't know Hopper very well, she just knew that he had a big place in everyone's hearts, and that she had slept over at Steve's house for a few days after the mall incident because he couldn't sleep without seeing hopper dying, she knew he was a good man. He meant a lot to the people she cared deeply about, so yes, she didn't know him personally but she'll be damned if she didn't get him back. And Dustin? Dustin was important to her. And so was steve. Seeing steve ill with worry left her feeling uneasy. Steve was unstoppable, he never gave up even when the Russians tortured it out of him. Or when he told her about his crush on a certain mullet head that same day in the mall bathrooms with vomit on their breath as they told each other about their crushes. Dustin meant a lot to him, all of the kids did of course, but robin was good at observing. He was different with Dustin, careful. He didn't use too many snarky remarks on the kid, and was genuinely interested in every nerd thing the kid spouted. He was good with him, and they were good for each other. Having Dustin in danger put a damper on everything around him, he had had a raincloud of anxiety over his head consistently and she had no idea how to help him. "Robin?" Came a voice next to her, she jumped out of her thoughts and turned her attention to young Will byers. He was a smart kid, rich with trauma and unlucky short ends of the stick. He was still optimistic and had a childish aura that left any person who talked to him with a smile. "You were lost in thought, I wanted to make sure you were okay ." He stated, before turning his attention back to his drawing. His pencil scratched against the paper with expertise and precision of those of a well crafted and trained adult, and it left robin in a completely mesmerized state of mind, free from russians and kidnapping and Nancy and Jonathan whispering to each other as billy turned up the Beatles even louder. 

It was their first pit stop of the day just at the border between Indiana and Ohio. A small rundown gas station convenience store was where they were stocking up on car snacks and slushies. She noticed Billy's arms wrapped around steve as the smaller boy shook. Billy's eyes caught with her and she sent him a worried look, he shook his head. She filled up her slushie cup up halfway with with blue raspberry and focused on eleven. The girl had never had a slushie in her life and the amount of options seemed to run around her head and glaze over her eyes. Robin let out a chuckle, "you can have more than one you know. Just put them all into the same cup." As she demonstrated by filling the rest of her cup with green apple. Eleven sent her a giant smile and copied her actions. Across the store she saw Lucas and max arguing over in the candy aisle, seeing as steve wasn't in the right frame of mind to take on mom mode she took matters into her own hands and squeezed El's shoulders before walking towards them. "Alright , kiddos, what the problem?" Lucas scoffed at her before harshly grabbing a pack of m&ms. "She doesn't want m&ms, what girl doesn't like m&ms?" He exclaimed as max scoffed and flipped her hair. "You're just mad because I don't wanna share my snickers." Lucas shook his head and waved his arms wildly. Robin let out a laugh before sighing and grabbing both candy bars from them. "How about, you both get your own candy and stop crying?" She asked, sarcasm lacing her voice. Lucas raised an eyebrow at her, "why isn't steve yelling at us?" Max grabbed a pack of m&ms and put her snickers bar back, "cause he's probably suckin' face with my brother. C'mon I'm sharing these with el, not you." Lucas scoffed, "I think you like her better than me," he theorized, pouting. Max laughed and nodded, "I mean obviously." They glared at each other before doubling over in laughter and calling eleven over to them. Robin smiled at them Goofily. She turned around to go towards the cash register to pay for her slushie. 

Halfway through ohio, they changed seating arrangements, because steve was falling asleep and no longer able to give Joyce directions, robin opted to take his place. Billy decided it was Jonathan's turn to drive the car and practically threw the keys at him. So now robin was sat in the passenger's seat next to a panicking Joyce byers, "no, mrs byers, turn right!" She exclaimed for the seventeenth time as Joyce's hand shook and she brought it up to her lips to take a drag from her cigarette. In the backseat eleven sat in between Lucas and max. With her head on Max's shoulder she didn't miss the look max gave her, robin winked at her and max blushed profusely. Robin hummed along to the Madonna song on the radio with eleven. This car was much more comfortable then the other and she almost forgot their entire reason for driving in the first place. Almost. Her idea of Dustin being tortured wouldn't leave her head and it left her biting her nails raw. The three kids in the backseat were asleep, and she almost forgot about mike wheeler who was sitting illegally on the floor, and very very grumpy about it. Eleven had sat on the floor for the last couple hours so really, he couldn't complain. Robin bit her nails still, tapping her leg wildly. A dark thought occurred in her head. What if elevens sister didn't even have any info to help them? They would just be alone for the rest of their lives? Knowing that their bestfriends were stuck in Russia and had no idea they knew. Die of old age wondering if they ever made it out alive? She couldn't let that happen she just couldn't. She looked out at the passing window, the sign said that Pennsylvania was only a hundred or so miles away. She turned back to her map again, "turn left in ten mrs byers." 

-

"Las Vegas?" Dustin shouted in astonishment. They were in Nevada. And honestly he should be more happy but he hasn't changed clothes in god knows how long and they had no money , any form of identification or a way to get from Las Vegas to middle of nowhere Hawkins Indi-god damn-Ana. The three had moved from a bustling Las Vegas street into a back alley. It stunk of pot. And he was convinced that the family of rats across from them was going to turn into a good monster and kill them. He focused on how excited Thirteen was to see a disgusting alley way more. She timidly walked over to the trash can and smelled it, scrunching up her nose in disgust. Hopper nodded, and rubbed his eyes harshly in frustration. He should be at home with el, taking her back to school shopping, or maybe taking her to school in all honesty he has no idea how long it's been, long enough though. Thirteen touched her finger to a greasy pipe and pulled it back with a quiet shriek, rubbing it on her already stained hospital gown. Dustin pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hop, we have to get her clothes, before anything else." Hopper scoffed and crossed his arms against his chest, "what kid, you wanna steal?" Dustin shrugged and grabbed thirteens hand to stop her from touching what looked like some sort of dead raccoon. He shook his head and let go of her. "You're the chief of police!" 

"I'm also dead kid." Hopper reminded. Dustin frowned. He pulled at a curl on his head in thought, "I want to go home." He said timidly. His change of tone almost gave hopper whiplash and it took everything in him not to sigh, loudly. He placed a hand on his shoulder, "me too kid." Thirteen giggled at a banana peel and looked up at the sky between the two tall buildings in pure amazement. She grinned wildly, and hopper leaned against the wall and watched her. "We're gonna get her home." Hopper decided. And Dustin bit his lip, "we don't know who her mama is, hop. We just know she lives in California." Hopper shook his head and kicked a pebble at the girl who squealed in delight and kicked it back. She desperately needed a good pair of socks. "No, kid, our home. Hawkins." Dustin smiled. "She wants to meet steve." Hopper scoffed and started walking out of the alleyway and the two kids followed suit, "well who wouldn't?" 

"Probably his parents," Dustin blurted out as hopper choked on air. Thirteen looked at them timidly. "This is Home?" She asked. Dustin shook his head as hopper looked at their surrounding with squinted eyes. "No, we got to get home, this is a pit stop." She nodded, "pitstop." She repeated and Dustin smiled encouragingly. Hopper spotted what he was looking for, "Okay shitheads, follow my lead." He started speeding up and the kids chased after him, one step closer to home. 

One step closer to Hawkins, and to Dustin? One step farther from Robert and Russia.


	13. Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 13: The brick wall, Kali, a fashion Disaster 
> 
> Word count: 651

Steve sat pressed in between robin and billy as the crackling in the walk-in talkie filled the room and a drop of El's blood touched the floor. Everyone sat silent and held their breath as she ripped her bandanna off her head and wiped her nose. After driving for hours on end they now sat in the first run down grocery store they saw, the freezer doors open as a group of teens sat around in a circle. They probably looked insane but honestly steve couldn't give a damn, he wanted Dustin and hopper back. Eleven looked up at everyone and made a face, "honesdale." She stated. Billy's head fell into his hands, "more driving, fun," Steve smacked him on the arm, "more driving you big baby." Everyone stood up and went to exit. The clerk at the front cash register cleared her throat. Her hair was bright orange and curly and she smacked her gum so loud it almost killed Steve's eardrums, he grimaced when she winked at him. "Y'all gonna leave and not buy nothin?" She spat, and everyone looked around at eachother. "Yeah," Steve said, "we're gonna leave and buy nothing, c'mon guys." She blew a bubble with her gum as she watched steve usher everyone out the door with Nancy's help. "You're not from round here huh?" She asked, a little more impolitely than before. Everyone turned back towards her and she slowly grabbed her phone from the desk. Punching in a number without looking everyone panicked, shoving half the kids out the door, Steve's chest rose and fell with anxiety. Before the clerk could even get a word in, eleven had thrown her across the store. She hit the freezers and eggo waffles came tumbling out. Eleven smiled way to happily for breaking that girls back. Billy smiled at her and raised his fist. She looked at it confused. "You bump it with yours," Nancy told her. Eleven smiled and very lightly touched her tiny knuckle against Billy's. "Guys! Little problem here!" Mike called from outside the store. He was standing in front of Will like a shield, mind you a very skinny and lanky shield. And the little problem, was actually a big problem, three bleach white vans came tumbling down the street at full speed towards them. "Shit, shit, shit," Lucas called out as the older teens started shoving them into cars. Joyce was screaming at them to get the hell into the car and they all tumbled into Billy's camaro. "Where are we going again?" Billy yelled, Steve scoffed, "as far away from the creepy white vans as possible shit head!" He yelled back, billy pulled on the exhilaration and they were off. The three vans were driving towards them at full speed, and everyone was crawling on top of each other to fit into the tiny car, no one mentioning Will's hand tightly gripping Mike's, or the way Robin rubbed the tears away from her eyes either. The road was coming to an end and billy was panicking, "why is there a wall in the middle of the street!" He exclaimed. Eleven smiled, "eight. She's here." Billy slammed on the brakes as the wall came closer and everyone awaited an impact that never came, the car screeched to a stop and eleven closed her eyes. "Did you just move my foot?" Billy yelled. She nodded, and he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Everyone breathed heavily as the white vans crashed into the brick wall, before it vanished. On the other side stood none other than kali herself, face dawned with a mask she held her arm out, and eleven jumped out of the car.


	14. Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 14: a jump, a blue camaro, an old lady, and a prayer. 
> 
> Word count: 1,328

In case you were wondering? Dustin henderson was over it. He just wanted to go home, he wanted to be at home in Steve's house surrounded by happiness and laughter. Steve's house was home, it smelled like cinnamon and vanilla from all of Steve's candles, and it held a sense of warmth in his heart. He wanted to be tucked into the couch in between steve and billy as they argued about what to put on tv, scribbling down answers to his math homework. Home was campaigns in Steve's lounge, crowded around the table and yelling. Home was hopper coming to pick up el with a sigh because she was attached to Max's arm and refused to leave. There seemed to be some sort of mutual agreement that happened about a week before he was kidnapped, and el stopped hanging around mike so much, but Mike didn't seem to mind. They were in a different alleyway now, the crumpled up map sat in thirteen's small hands as she glared at it, "Hawkins?" She asked. Hopper nodded sharply, "Hawkins Indiana, its home okay? We need you to get us home." She bit her lip, "Hawkins." She repeated, as if testing the Syllables on her tongue. Dustin wanted to cry, "Hawkins," he choked out, his throat closing in on itself. She met his eyes, "want to go home, to steve?" He nodded again. She sent him a big smile, "I think," she pointed to Indiana on the map, "I can do that." She sounded out, unsure. Dustin smiled wildly, and grabbed her hand. Hopper grabbed the other. "When you're ready Okay?" Hopper stated, his voice soft. "Only when you're ready, I know you just jumped a big distant a few hours ago." She smiled again, big and childish, warm and it left Dustin feeling like cinnamon and vanilla, and she closed her eyes. Dustin prepared his body for that icky grossing feeling of it almost disintegrating feeling of every bone and tissue in his body as it moved from one portion of the world into another. He held his breath until it stopped, his eyes stayed screwed shut, he didn't want to open them Incase it was all a dream. If he opens his eyes, he might see the dull light bulb illuminating the cell, and hear hopper snoring. Slowly, he opened one of his eyes, and he let go of thirteen's hand, she fell limp against hoppers side, her nose bled like hell, reminding Hopper all too much of his daughter with her hair slicked back as she lifted herself off the elevator to save the world. He held her close, and picked her up in his arms as he got used to his surroundings. The streets were eerily silent and he turned around to see one person walking down the street. A soft old lady with kind features, her hair was hidden underneath a soft silk hat and her eyes were glazed over with age. He smiled at her and tried to hide 013's face. "Hello ma'am, is this Indiana?" She smiled at him, her smile was about as old as the dinosaurs, she looked like she'd seen the stars and more, she shook her head, "Oh honey this is Pennsylvania." She sounded out, her voice raspy with memories. She nodded her head at him and kept walking ahead of herself. Her feet click clacked against the sidewalk and Dustin collapsed against the sidewalk, his knees gave out as he let himself cry out, gripping at his curls in stress. He just wanted to go home. To cinnamon and vanilla, to will's laugh, and Mike's sweaters and the taste of lucas' new coke cans he left at his house, or to Erica's room to watch the same five episodes of my little pony she kept renting from Steve. To the back of Billy's camaro, laughing his ass off at Steve's rendition of love cats by the cure. He felt hopper grab at his shoulder, and he shakily stood up. His entire body was weak with sadness and it went straight to his heart, squeezing it painfully with nostalgia. He pressed his head into hoppers chest and listened to thirteen's soft snoring. He noticed the old lady hopper was talking to was now about to turn the corner away from them. She looked so content to be walking around, so happy with her life. Dustin smiled slightly at that, but his smile went away as she went to cross the street, and coming right at her was a blue camaro. It was still a couple of feet away but it made Dustin's heart pound out of his chest and the blue camaro screeched to a stop but the white van following it sure didn't. Dustin went to yell out as the old lady was moved out of the way with a burst of air, like the invisible miracle had pushed her out of the way. Dustin's heart was in his throat. Because knew one person who could do that. And she was stepping out of the car, throwing out her hands and shooting the white van across the street, it tumbled into a building, and the glass shattered loudly as eleven let out a scream. And everyone came piling out of billy Hargrove's blue camaro, and Dustin let out a cry, it couldn't be real. God sent him a miracle, in the form of a crazy haired teenager who wore one of billy Hargrove's old sweaters and a pair of beat up old sunglasses. Dustin ran at him wrapping his arms around steve harrington so tight it almost killed him. He let out a choked sob, it couldn't be real. "Dustin?" Steve croaked out as the boys arms squeezed him so tight he saw black dots in his eyes, he wrapped his arms even tighter around the boy. He didn't even notice the girl in hoppers arms. Or how confused billy was by her. She looked so familiar. So god damn familiar. Honestly, who was she? He couldn't tell. It was like he knew something but he couldn't put his finger on it. He bit his tongue as hopper set her down and her eyes began to flutter open, Rich baby blue eyes met his and he felt a sinking feeling in his chest. She was so familiar. He looked to max for help. She was looking up at him with an identical set of twinkling blue eyes and he felt weak, "Do we know her?" He asked. Max's body was just as tense as his tone of voice, she shrugged as the girl looked around at everyone wildly. Before landing on billy. "Billy?" She asked. He was startled, his eyes widened as he nodded. She sent him a giant smile, "shopping. You like shopping." She stated in a matter of fact tone, and billy let out a wet laugh, he bent down to meet her eyes, hopper watched cautiously. "Yeah, I do, you look really familiar did you know that? What's your name kid?" She held out her wrist for him to see, and he almost doubled over at the small numbers on her wrist. "Are we Home? In Indiana? Dustin's home? He said you would be there." Billy blinked back tears, god who was this girl? She was breaking him, "no were not home yet." Max was watching them weerily. "Do you remember having a home?" She asked uncertainly. Thirteen nodded happily. "Yes, Dustin said it's called California, I liked it the before papa came to get me," she paused and glared at them, "Do you work for papa?" Billy shook his head, "no," he stated simply but it seemed to be enough for her as she nodded happily. Billy bit his tongue again, he was gonna figure out why she was so familiar. He's just got to.


	15. Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 15: the final battle, Dustin's turmoil, and overprotective parental figures and brothers. The end. 
> 
> Word count: 1, 231

The group had all decided that the diner a few blocks over was a great place to meet, to talk, oh god to talk. They had moved every table in the tiny diner to fit the entire group together and Dustin had refused to move from Steve's side. With Thirteen next to him he shoveled fries into his mouth and watched her try to eat one. "They're real good, teenie, promise." She bit it, and smiled at him as she went to grab another off his plate. He let her. Across from him Eleven was settled In next to hopper, tears were glistening in her eyes as they closed contently. "How did you get here?" Nancy asked, her eyes wide at the three. Dustin swallowed his food and pointed a finger at the girl next to him, "Thirteen can teleport. Got us out in a jiffy." He decided not to mention his dad. No one even mentioned him enough to think much of it if Dustin told them about him they wouldn't know about the fights, or dad leaving, or life before Hawkins Indiana. Instead he told them about the pool, and how he got knocked out, and meeting hopper. And the endless sleeping and waking up of the cells. Steve told him it's been a week since he disappeared. He didn't want to know how many cats his mom had adopted in that time frame, so he didn't ask about her. Instead he asked who the girl with the purple hair was, and met eight. She told Thirteen about her powers, and created a daisy for her to twirl around in her fingers. She loved it. Thirteen tried, with help from Dustin, to explain everything she knew, about California and her mysterious big sister she couldn't remember the face of, Dustin decided not to mention the weird look max and billy sent each other. She told them about papa, and it made kali and el sick to their stomachs, she told them about the rainbow room, and twelve, and Dustin and Las Vegas, and by the time the two of them were done talking the food was done and over. Everyone was relaxed, calm even. So they got up to clamber into Billy's camaro, and very illegally, drive home. Steve got one foot out of the door before something came out of the shadows and slammed a gun against the top of his head, he fell unconscious into Billy's arms, who let out a cry. The diner was swarmed, surrounding the sickly sweet aura of the 1960s Pennsylvania diner with guilt and Russians, and dr Brenner. He stood smiling wildly at them as they panicked. Thirteen popped up right in front of him and tried to pop away but he grabbed her. She screamed and Dustin stopped fussing over steve to run at her. Hopper grabbed his arm and pulled him back as eleven pushed back anyone who got near her. Her nose bled down her face as she got closer to him, "you took, everything from me, from us!" She screamed. Dr brenner let out a wild laugh, his grip was so tight on thirteen's arms that made her let out a wail. Max's entire body was dark with anger, "get off her," she spat. Dr brenner chose to ignore her as eleven neared him. She held out her arms, unfiltered anger raging thorough her entire body. She wiped her arm sideways and his grip on thirteen loosened enough to let her pop back into Dustin's arms. Eleven tilted her head and dr brenner let out a cry in pain as his arm popped out of socket, he glared at her as the Russian guards moved in closer to. Everyone else. Dustin spat at one getting close to steve and thirteen and tried to ignore the achingly horrified feeling In his chest, expanding with each breath. Nancy pulled out a shotgun and aimed it at a guard getting closer to Jonathan. Everyone was frozen still with anger as eleven let out a scream, and fell backwards. Her entire body felt like it was on fire, oh god, oh god, what was going on? Coming from the shadows, Robert Henderson was red with anger, his entire body was sickly orange instead of its greenish pale color. Dustin sat up right away. He noticed as Robert's arm flicked slightly and eleven let out a scream, her arm bubbling in pain. Max ran for her, pulling her into her arms, eleven reached out and placed a hand on Max's shoulder, but it burned. God it burned, everything was on fire. Brenner was smiling brightly, he rubbed his hands together, "bit chilly tonight, isn't it Eleven?" Eleven let out a cry as Robert closed his eyes and a drop of blood dropped from his nose, and everything made sense to Dustin, he pulled thirteen closer to him, because it was so obvious wasn't it? Why dad left? Because dad was 001. It was evident by the thick block letters in his wrist as he burned with fire, and so did eleven. She burned to touch and max was distraught. Letting on a cry of agony when she reached out to touch elevens hand was enough to have Hopper and billy out from the shadows, anger coursing through their veins. Dustin pulled Steve's unconscious body into his arms and watched frighteningly as billy swung one at his dad. Brenner was now facing the wrath of eight, but Dustin couldn't bring his eyes away from hopper and billy hurting his dad, he deserved it, Dustin felt like crying all over again, thirteen sat up in his arms, "bad man?" She asked. Dustin nodded. "My dad." He whispered. She nodded back. Before popping out of place. She popped in between hopper and billy, "go." She commanded, and with that she grabbed the burning hot wrist, engraved with the reason Dustin no longer had a reason to celebrate Father's Day and popped out of place. It made him sick to think about what she was inevitably doing to him. Lucas shot a rock at a russian's eye with his wrist rocket, protecting mike and will from the incoming Russians, everyone was going crazy, and he just wanted to go home. He held Steve's hand, he just wanted to go home. But clearly, brenner had other plans. He punched kali in the jaw and ran at hopper and eleven, hopper slammed his fist into brenner face, and eleven sat up. The burning agony she was put through was slowing down into small bubbles of hot skin against his own, and her eyes were rolling back into her head, "don't touch my friends," she breathed out, and with every ounce of energy in her, she raised her hands and let out a wail, breaking every bone in his body all at once. Ending her suffering, and ending the war against her past, she fell into Max's arms, and closed her eyes, tears falling freely. Everything was so fast that it almost went silent, Dustin's ears rang so loud he couldn't even think over it, and his eyes were drooping as the sound of police cars came closer into his brain, and burned at his throat he went to ask, "is thirteen okay?"


	16. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 16: The paperwork, and the realization. 
> 
> Word count:591

Three months after the Pennsylvania incident, everything about patient number thirteen was out into the open and they all sat around the Byers home as her and Dustin scanned it over. His breath got caught in his throat at the third page of legal documents. A blood test with none other than Maxine mayfield, he searched for the key word and found it, with his finger pointing to the word, "100 % match." His eyes met the hargrove siblings and he nodded. The Two jumped up in glee, pulling thirteen into a hug, billy picked her up and swung her around, before setting her down on the ground, everyone cheered, clapping excitedly. And Dustin skipped to the last page of the packet. He handed it to billy who closed his eyes and let out a breath of air. Steve pressed a kiss to the boys cheek, and billy smiled opening his eyes. There in big sloppy hand written letters were the notes from dr. Owens. "Hey kiddos? Tell hop i said hey, after lotsa looking, I found it, 013's birth name. But now with her agreeable custody claims." Billy lifted up the note and saw the birth certificate. He gasped and bit back a cry as he handed it to thirteen. She visibly started shaking as the piece of paper was handed to her. It meant everything to her, it was everything to her. She looked down and saw it. In big printed letters, her name. The one her mother had given to her the day she was born, before the Hargrove's were involved in her life, before Neil took her away from her family, the name Maxine and her mother had picked out late one night before she was born, in black permanent ink was in her hands, validated and real she let out a huff of air and looked at everyone's expecting eyes. She met Dustin's warm comforting smile and she sent him one back. "Mary." She choked out as max wrapped an around her shoulders. 

"It says Mary hargrove." The cheering from earlier got louder as everyone shuffled to capture the smaller child into a giant group hug, she didn't miss the misty look in Billy's eyes as they met Steve's. Billy pressed a kiss into Steve's lips, "I love you, pretty boy." He breathed out. Steve rubbed at his eyes, blushing, he kissed back before pulling away, "I love you too." She curled up closer into Billy's arms, she was safe with her siblings. Away from Susan and Neil, under Billy's guardian ship, her big brother, and max by her side she was safe. She opened her eyes to meet Dustin's. He smiled big, and she smiled back, even bigger. Life was good, this was life. Not some stuffy cell in Russia, not California. This right here. In mrs. Byers house, surrounded by family she saw hope. Hope in Steve's bleary eyes as he pressed his head into Billy's chest. Hope in mike and Nancy's evergrowing better sense of grief. Hope in max and El's hands, clasped tightly around the other. Hope in the way will laid his head contently on mike's shoulder, and hope in mike's genuine smile. Hope was a good word for her. She stroked her fingers against the cardstock of her birth certificate. Hope was everything she wanted, and hope kept Mary hargrove going. Hope was a good word for her wayward life. 

-

Coming soon...

Hope. 

Book 2 of the 013 SERIES...

Thanks for reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, the sequel will be up shortly!


End file.
